MONITOEY  LETTERS 


TO 


C  H  U  R  C  H  M  E  M  B  E  R  S 


PIITLADELPIIIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD   OF  PUBLICATION, 

NO.  265  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congi-ess,  in  the  year  1855,  by 

A.  W.  MITCHELL,  M.  D., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District 

of  Pennsylvania. 


PREFACE 


A  LOW  state  of  religion,  in  any  community,  is  indi- 
cated especially  by  the  delinquencies  of  professed  Chris- 
tians. These  delinquencies  take  on  a  variety  of  forms, 
according  to  the  temperament  of  the  individual,  and 
the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed. 
Sometimes,  no  doubt,  they  result  more  immediately 
from  the  want  of  due  reflection,  or  of  a  cultivated 
moral  discernment ;  while  yet,  perhaps  still  more  fre- 
quently, they  originate  in  the  concurrence  of  powerful 
temptation  with  an  ill  kept  heart  and  a  bribed  or  sti- 
fled conscience.  In  order  to  elevate  the  tone  of  Chris- 
tian feeling  and  action,  it  is  necessary  not  only  that 
Christians  should  be  exhorted  in  general  to  avoid  that 
wliich  is  evil,  and  cleave  to  that  which  is  good,  but 
that  the  various  forms  of  evil  which  they  are  to  avoid, 
and  of  good  which  they  are  to  practise,  with  corres- 
ponding motives,  both  dissuasive  and  persuasive,  should 
be  distinctly  placed  before  them.  However  suitable  it 
is  that  the  principles  of  Christian  duty  should  be  often 
urged  in  their  comprehensive  import,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  there  are  many  consciences  by  which  they  will 
never  be  applied,  unless  they  are  presented  in  the  mi- 
nute details  of  daily  experience. 

(iii) 


IV  PREFACE. 

It  is  under  the  influence  of  this  conviction  that  these 
Letters  have  been  written.  That  most  of  the  particu- 
lar evils  at  which  they  aim  exist,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  in  every  Christian  community,  the  author  cannot 
doubt ;  and  it  seems  to  him  equally  certain  that  just 
in  proportion  as  they  prevail,  they  not  only  mar  the 
evidence  and  depress  the  standard  of  Christian  char- 
acter, but  oppose  a  powerful  obstacle  to  the  general 
success  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  He  does  not 
ask  any  reader  to  receive  implicitly  any  opinion  ex- 
pressed in  this  book ;  but  he  does  ask  that,  before  he 
rejects  any  of  its  teachings,  he  will  carefully  refer  them 
to  the  only  unerring  standard,  as  well  as  open  his  ear  to 
the  still  small  voice  of  the  monitor  within. 


COJli^TENTS. 


LETTER  I. 

PAGa 
To  one  who  undervalues  divine  truth 9 

LETTER  IL 
To  one  who  attends  church  but  half  a  day 17 

LETTER  in. 
To  a  lady  who  sends  her  children  to  the  dancing-school 23 

LETTER  IV. 
To  one  who  neglects  family  prayer 31 

LETTER  V. 
To  one  who  neglects  family  prayer 38 

LETTER  VL 
To  one  who  neglects  family  prayer.. 45 

LETTER  VIL 
To  one  who  travels  on  the  Sabbath 49 

LETTER  VIIL 
To  one  who  neglects  the  weekly-day  services  of  the  Church...    57 
1*  (V) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

LETTER  IX. 
To  one  who  frequents  fashionable  parties 63 

LETTER  X. 
To  one  who  complains  of  the  want  of  intellectual  preaching...     72 

LETTER  XL 
To  one  of  a  penurious  spirit 79 

LETTER  XIL 
To  one  of  a  censorious  spirit 86 

LETTER  Xin. 
To  one  of  a  self-confident  and  unyielding  spirit 93 

LETTER  XIV. 
To  one  of  a  managing  and  disingenuous  spii'it 99 

LETTER  XV. 
To  one  of  an  impatient  and  complaining  spirit 105 

LETTER  XVL 
To  one  of  an  inconstant  and  fickle  spirit 112 

LETTER  XVIL 
To  one  of  an  exclusive  and  bigoted  spirit 118 

LETTER  XVIIL 
To  one  who  is  neglectful  of  the  common  courtesies  of  life 124 

LETTER  XIX. 
To  one  who  is  lacking  in  reverence  for  truth  as  a  moral  virtue...  131 


CONTENTS.  VU 

LETTER  XX. 

FAOS 

To  one  who  is  deficient  in  parental  vigilance  and  control 138 

LETTER  XXL 
To  a  mother  who  neglects  to  bring  her  children  for  baptism....   144 

LETTER  XXIL 
To  a  lady  who  sends  her  daughter  to  a  Roman  Catholic  School..  153 


MONITOKY    LETTERS. 


LETTER    I. 

TO    ONE  WHO    UNDERVALUES    DIVINE    TRUTH. 

In  a  conversation  that  I  lately  had  with  you, 
you  made  certain  statements  in  regard  to  some 
of  the  great  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  I  may  say 
in  regard  to  Christian  truth  in  general,  that  have 
given  me,  on  reflection,  no  little  anxiety.  You 
did  not  explicitly  deny  any  important  doctrine, 
but  you  seemed  to  have  diflSculties  in  respect  to 
several ;  and  what  occasioned  me  still  greater 
concern  was,  that  you  appeared  to  think  it  a 
matter  of  small  moment  whether  a  person  should 
believe  one  doctrine  or  system  of  doctrine,  or 
another,  provided  he  has  a  general  belief  in 
Christianity,  and  is  blameless  in  his  external 
deportment.  I  beg  to  call  your  attention  to  a 
few  thoughts  which  the  conversation  to  which  I 
refer  has  suggested  to  me.  I  will  not  now  dwell  on 
the  consideration  that  this  unsettled  state  of  mind 
is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  relation  you  bear 

(9) 


10  MONITORY  LETTERS 

to  the  Church — the  consent  which  you  have,  at 
least  virtually,  given  to  an  evangelical  creed  ;  but 
will  endeavour  to  show  you,  on  other  grounds, 
that  it  is  utterly  unworthy  of  your  character  as  a 
professed  disciple  of  Christ. 

My  first  remark  is,  that  a  belief  in  the  distinc- 
tive doctrines  of  Christianity  is  essential  to  all 
evangelical  experience  and  evangelical  practice. 
What  we  call  Christian  experience,  has  to  do 
more  immediately  with  the  feelings,  the  affections, 
the  heart.  But  the  influence  which  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  this  part  of  our  nature,  is  the  influence 
of  truth  received  first  by  the  intellect — of  the 
very  truths  which  the  Gospel  reveals,  and  no 
other ;  and  if  these  truths  are  not  received,  it  is 
impossible  that  there  should  exist  any  experience 
that  corresponds  to  them.  Each  of  these  truths 
in  particular,  as  well  as  the  general  system  of 
which  each  is  a  part,  is  adapted  to  produce  a  cer- 
tain effect — to  bring  into  exercise  certain  classes 
of  the  moral  feelings ;  and  if  something  else  be 
substituted  for  this,  no  matter  though  it  be  called 
by  the  same  name,  the  effect  produced  will  corre- 
spond with  the  doctrine  that  is  actually  received, 
and  not  with  that  for  which  it  is  substituted  ;  in 
other  words,  it  will  not  be  evangelical  experience. 
As  to  practice,  or  the  outward  demonstration  of 
the  inward  feeling,  it  may  not  always  bo  easy  to 
distinguish  that  which  is  evangelical  from  that 


TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  11 

which  is  not  so ;  because  other  motives  than  those 
that  are  in  the  highest  sense  Christian,  may  ope- 
rate to  produce  an  exterior,  in  many  respects, 
such  as  Christianity  requires  ;  and  yet,  if  the  act 
be  viewed  in  connection  with  the  state  of  the 
heart  in  which  it  originates,  it  cannot  be  said  to 
bear  an  evangelical  character,  any  further  than 
it  is  prompted  by  evangelical  motives.  Is  it  not 
manifest,  then,  that  there  is  just  as  much  impor- 
tance to  be  attached  to  a  firm  belief  of  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  as  there  is  to  a  genuine 
Christian  experience,  or  to  a  truly  religious  life  ? 
I  did  not  understand  you  to  say  that  you  felt 
prepared  to  renounce  any  of  what  are  commonly 
considered  the  leading  truths  of  Christianity  ;  but 
you  seemed  to  think  that  there  might  be  so  much 
doubt  in  respect  to  some  of  them,  as  to  justify 
considerable  latitude  of  opinion,  and  call  for  the 
exercise  of  an  enlarged  charity.  Allow  me  to 
say,  that  this  supposes  a  state  of  mind  that  must 
give  to  your  own  Christian  experience,  at  least,  an 
equivocal  character.  I  would  fain  hope  that  it 
may  be  only  a  shock  which  your  religious  convic- 
tions have  received,  and  from  which  they  will 
quickly  recover ;  but  so  long  as  you  continue  of 
the  same  mind  as  you  now  are,  undervaluing 
God's  truth,  and  doubting  whether  he  has  re- 
vealed one  thing  or  another,  your  experience,  to 
say  the  least,  cannot  be  of  a  settled  and  decided 


12  MONITORY  LETTERS 

cliaracter.  You  have  too  much  reason  to  fear, 
and  you  give  others  too  much  reason  to  fear,  that 
you  have  come  into  the  visible  Church  a  stranger 
to  renewing  grace. 

Admitting  even  that  the  state  into  which  you 
have  fallen  is  consistent  with  the  existence  of  a 
principle  of  grace  in  your  heart,  yet  it  must,  at 
least,  prove  greatly  adverse  to  your  Christian  en- 
joyment. A  state  of  uncertainty  in  respect  to 
any  question  in  which  we  are  deeply  interested, 
is  always  a  painful  state.  What,  then,  must  it  be 
to  be  in  doubt  in  regard  to  those  great  doctrines 
which  have  respect  to  the  soul's  eternal  salvation 
— doctrines  in  Avhich  are  bound  up  alike  both  our 
duty  and  our  destiny?  Can  you,  for  instance, 
have  the  shadow  of  doubt  whether  Jesus  Christ 
has  made  an  atonement  for  sin,  or  whether  our 
salvation  depends  on  faith  in  his  atonement,  with- 
out being  thrown  into  a  state  of  the  deepest  per- 
plexity and  distress  ?  If  you  can  feel  such  doubts, 
unaccompanied  with  deep  anxiety,  you  need  no 
better  evidence  that  you  have  built  on  a  founda- 
tion that  will  be  swept  away. 

You  tell  me  that  there  has  always  been  a  va- 
riety of  opinions  in  respect  to  the  meaning  of 
Scripture,  and  that  men  of  equally  pure  morality 
have  held  views  directly  opposite  to  each  other ; 
that  it  were  intolerable  arrogance  in  any  one  sect 
to  profess  to  have  discovered  the  whole  truth, 


TO  cnuRcn  members.  13 

and  that  the  Bible  really  does  seem  to  speak  a 
different  language,  on  the  same  subject,  in  differ- 
ent places.  But  I  take  for  granted  you  do  not 
doubt  that  the  Bible  really  contains  a  divine  reve- 
lation. Is  it,  then,  I  ask,  consistent  with  the  wis- 
dom and  goodness  of  Go-d,  that  he  should  have 
spoken  to  men  on  a  subject  that  involves  their 
highest  interests,  and  yet  should  have  spoken  so 
obscurely  that,  in  the  due  application  of  their 
faculties,  they  cannot  understand  his  communi- 
cations ?  Can  that  justly  be  considered  a  revela- 
tion, which  is  not  so  clear  as  to  leave  men  without 
excuse  for  rejecting  it  ?  But  you  ask.  Why,  then, 
this  variety  of  opinion  ?  The  true  answer  is,  that 
men  naturally  "  love  darkness  rather  than  light, 
because  their  deeds  are  evil."  But  you  tell  me 
that  many  of  those  persons,  of  whose  creed  I 
should  judge  most  unfavourably,  are  distinguished 
for  kindness  and  urbanity — for  everything  that 
is  amiable,  and  graceful,  and  of  good  report  in 
private  and  social  life.  I  answer,  all  this  may  be 
nothing  more  than  nature  highly  cultivated  ;  there 
may  be  concealed  beneath  that  beautiful  exterior, 
a  heart  unreconciled  to  God — a  heart  that  has  no 
relish  for  divine  truth,  and  has  never  known  so 
much  as  one  holy  pulsation.  Admitting,  then, 
that  the  di^^ne  revelation  is  perfectly  clear,  and 
full,  and  consistent,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  ac- 
counting for  the  fact  that  men  of  different  char- 
2 


14  MONITORY  LETTERS 

acters  view  it  with  different  eyes  ;  but  the  alleged 
obscurity  and  inconsistency  of  the  record,  it  is 
impossible  to  account  for,  without  rejecting  it 
altogether,  or  arraigning  the  character  of  God  on 
the  charge  of  having  trifled  with  his  creatures. 

You  say  that  if  a  man  possesses  a  general  be- 
lief in  Christianity,  that  is  enough,  and  though 
his  creed  may  be  one  thing  or  another,  he  is  to 
be  accounted  a  Christian,  especially  if  there  is 
nothing  in  his  life  that  is  inconsistent  with  his 
profession.  But  does  not  this  idea  annihilate  the 
importance  of  Christian  faith  altogether  ?  Chris- 
tianity is  a  great  moral  system,  designed  to  pro- 
duce great  moral  effects.  But  tell  me  what  great 
effects  can  be  expected  to  flow  from  a  belief  of 
the  proposition,  that  the  Bible  contains  a  revela- 
tion from  God,  independently  of  a  belief  of  the 
particular  truths  which  this  revelation  embraces. 
A  man  may  believe  in  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  yet  if  he  does  not  know  what 
they  contain,  or  if,  by  perversion,  he  gathers 
from  them  some  system  of  error,  his  belief  in 
their  divinity  becomes  a  matter  of  no  significance. 
He  may,  indeed,  call  himself  a  Christian,  but  he 
assumes  a  name  that  does  not  really  belong  to 
him. 

Allow  me  to  say  that,  even  on  the  most  favour- 
able supposition  in  respect  to  your  present  state 
of  mind — that  is,  admitting  that  it  is  only  a  tern- 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  15 

porary  religious  aberration,  and  not  a  confirmed 
habit  of  the  soul — it  places  you  in  circumstances 
of  peculiar  jeopardy.  Be  it  so  that  you  have  not 
yet  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith — have  not  yet 
become  fixed  in  any  fundamental  error — yet  you 
can  have  no  security  against  it ;  for  if  you  have 
reached  the  point  of  believing  that  any  form  of 
error  is  harmless,  you  have  taken  one  step  in  the 
downward  course;  and  even  though  you  may 
pause  for  the  present,  yet  you  are  standing  on  a 
declivity,  where  the  descent  is  easy,  and  will  be 
likely  to  be  rapid  and  fatal.  I  say  again,  you 
have  no  security  against  any  error — you  are  at 
the  mercy  of  every  wind  of  false  doctrine  that 
may  overtake  you.  If  you  will  be  secure  from 
error,  you  must  value  the  truth  ;  and  if  you  will 
value  it,  you  must  understand  it. 

Let  me,  then,  earnestly  entreat  you  to  betake 
yourself  at  once  to  the  diligent  study  of  God's 
word.  Settle  it  in  your  mind  that  there  is  some- 
thing revealed  there  that  is  definite ;  and  that, 
however  there  may  be  real  difiiculties  in  respect 
to  some  points  of  minor  importance,  yet  in  regard 
to  all  the  essentials  of  Christianity,  there  is  no- 
thing that  is  not  perfectly  clear  to  a  truly  docile 
spirit.  Take  up  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and 
examine  them  one  by  one;  and  then  observe  how 
harmoniously  they  arrange  themselves  into  a 
great  system  of  truth,  and  see  how  the  whole  is 


16  MONITOR-^   LETTERS 

illumined  by  the  glory  of  God  as  it  shines  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  have  any  doubts  in 
respect  to  any  particular  doctrine,  let  it  be  your 
first  concern  to  get  rid  of  them  ;  but  take  care 
that  you  stop  where  the  revelation  stops,  and  that 
you  never  perplex  yourself  by  an  attempt  to  be 
wise  above  what  is  written.  I  pray  you,  from  a 
regard  to  your  Christian  consistency,  and  com- 
fort, and  usefulness,  to  ponder  these  few  hints, 
and  I  pray  God  that  you  may  henceforward  be 
fully  established  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel. 


TO   CnUECH   MEMBERS.  17 


LETTER   II. 

TO   ONE   WHO   ATTENDS   CHURCH   BUT   HALF   A   DAT. 

You  will  not,  I  hope,  think  me  obtrusive  in  ad- 
dressing you  on  a  subject  that  has,  for  some  time 
past,  weighed  heavily  upon  my  mind,  as  well  as 
upon  the  minds  of  some  other  of  your  Christian 
friends.  I  remember  the  time  when  you  were  a 
regular  attendant,  not  only  on  the  services  of  the 
Sabbath  both  parts  of  the  day,  but  on  all  the  re- 
ligious exercises  of  the  week,  in  the  Church  of 
which  you  are  a  member.  You  used  sometimes 
to  take  the  lead  in  our  social  devotions,  and  we 
were  always  glad  to  hear  your  voice ;  for  it  quick- 
ened and  edified  us.  Indeed,  so  constant  was 
your  attendance  on  religious  services,  both  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  that  your  absence  al- 
ways led  to  the  inquiry,  what  had  detained  you. 
But  it  is  not  with  you  now  as  it  was  in  other  days. 
You  have  not  only  forsaken  the  weekly  lecture, 
the  prayer-meeting,  and  every  occasional  religious 
exercise,  but,  alas  !  you  have  become  a  half-day 
worshipper  in  the  house  of  God  ;  and  it  is  impos- 
sible that  any  of  your  Christian  friends  should 
view  such  a  change  with  indifference.  They  re- 
2* 


18  MONITORY  LETTERS 

spect  and  esteem  you,  and  are  not  slow  to  ac- 
knowledge your  many  estimable  qualities,  but 
they  are  distressed  that  you  should  have  fallen 
into  a  habit  which  seems  to  them  so  utterly  incon- 
sistent with  your  Christian  obligations. 

I  would  affectionately  urge  you  to  abandon  this 
habit ;  first  of  all,  from  a  regard  to  your  OAvn  Chris- 
tian edification  and  comfort.  It  cannot  be  that 
two  discourses  of  ordinary  length  on  the  Sabbath 
are  more  than  you  are  able,  in  the  legitimate  ex- 
ercise of  your  faculties,  to  digest  and  apply.  You 
certainly  need  to  have  as  much  truth  as  would 
ordinarily  be  thus  communicated,  deposited  in 
your  mind,  as  material  for  your  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties  to  work  upon,  until  another  Sab- 
bath comes  round.  I  have  never  heard  that  you 
have  complained  of  the  preaching  under  which 
you  sit ;  but  if  you  should  apologize  to  your  con- 
science for  your  absence  in  the  afternoon,  on  the 
ground  that  you  find  less  edification  than  you 
could  desire,  the  answer  is  that  you  are  living  in 
the  midst  of  evangelical  Churches,  and  that  you 
can  choose  such  ministrations  as  are  most  agree- 
able to  you.  Possibly  your  plea  may  be  that  you 
can  get  more  good  by  spending  the  hour  of  the 
afternoon  service  in  thinking  over  and  applying 
the  morning  sermon,  than  in  hearing  another. 
In  order  to  test  the  sincerity  of  this  plea,  I  would 
advise  you  to  notice  whether  the  afternoon  is  re- 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  10- 

ally  spent  in  endeavouring  to  give  permanence  to 
the  impressions  received  in  the  morning,  or 
•whether  it  is  not  rather  given  to  a  listless  and  in- 
dolent habit  of  mind,  not  to  say  to  idle  conversa- 
tion, or  even  unprofitable  reading. 

But  you 'Owe  a  duty  on  this  subject  to  the 
Church  with  which  you  are  connected.  You  have 
covenanted  to  walk  with  them  in  the  bonds  of 
Christian  fellowship.  In  accordance  with  ancient 
and  unbroken  usage,  especially  in  all  large  towns, 
your  Church  sustains  two  services  on  the  Sab- 
bath ;  and  she  expects  all  her  members  to  be 
present  at  both  of  them  ;  and  such  is  the  ac- 
knowledged standard  of  Christian  duty  on  this 
subject,  that  no  one  can  be  habitually  absent;  but 
that  both  the  Church  and  the  world  mark  the  de- 
linquency. In  turning  your  back  on  the  after- 
noon service,  therefore,  you  wound  the  hearts 
of  your  fellow  Christians.  They  feel  that  in  one 
respect,  at  least,  you  are  not  a  fellow-helper  with 
them  unto  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  that  you  are  not 
what  they  had  a  right  to  expect  you  would  be, 
when  they  welcomed  you  to  the  joys  and  benefits 
of  Christian  communion.  They  feel  that  your  ex- 
ample, in  seeming  to  set  lightly  by  the  ordinan- 
ces of  God's  house,  neutralizes,  in  a  degree,  their 
own  efi*orts  for  the  advancement  of  his  cause.      4 

Do  you  not  owe  something  to  your  minister, 
also  ?     I  do  not  believe  you  would  intentionally 


20  MONITORY   LETTERS 

wound  his  feelings  ;  and  yet,  pardon  me  for  tel- 
ling you  that  I  know  you  have  done  so — that  you 
do  so  continually.  He  cherishes  towards  you 
nothing  but  respect  and  good  will ;  he  even  tries 
to  apologize,  in  every  way  that  he  can,  for  the 
course  into  which  you  have  fallen  ;  but  he  has 
acknowledged  to  some  of  his  particular  friends, 
that  whenever  he  casts  his  eye  at  your  seat  in  the 
afternoon,  and  sees  that  you  are  not  there,  it 
sends  a  chill  to  his  inmost  heart.  It  is  a  natural 
construction  enough  of  your  conduct,  that  his 
preaching  does  not  edify  you,  and  therefore  you 
are  willing  to  hear  as  little  of  it  as  may  consist 
with  decency.  And  then  he  feels  that  your  ex- 
ample is  greatly  lessening  the  power  of  his  min- 
istry, both  in  the  Church  and  out  of  it ;  and  I 
doubt  not  that,  if  you  knew  all,  you  would  know 
that  what  you  do,  without,  perhaps,  being  aware 
that  he  even  notices  it,  causes  him  sometimes  to 
weep  in  secret  places. 

May  I  not  say  a  word  here,  also,  in  behalf  of 
your  own  family  ?  They,  I  perceive,  continue  to 
come  in  the  afternoon,  though  you  stay  away.  I 
take  for  granted  that  you  approve  of  their  course, 
notwithstanding  your  example  would  seem  to  en- 
courage an  opposite  one.  Suppose  they,  too, 
should  prefer  to  attend  only  one  service,  and  there 
should  not  be  a  single  representative  of  your 
family  in  the  Church  in  the  afternoon — would  you 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  21 

be  satisfied  with  such  a  state  of  things  ?  or,  if  it 
should  exist,  could  you  consistently  say  anything 
against  it  ?  Have  you  not  reason  to  fear  that 
your  children  may  grow  up  placing  a  low  estimate 
on  divine  institutions,  and  point  to  your  example 
as  their  justification  ?  Nay,  have  you  not  reason 
to  fear  that  they  will  so  far  improve  upon  the  ex- 
ample you  set  them,  that  instead  of  being  even 
half-day  hearers  of  God's  w^ord,  they  will  turn 
their  backs  on  the  services  of  his  house  alto- 
gether ? 

May  I  not  say  a  word,  too,  in  behalf  of  the 
careless  and  ungodly — of  those  who  have  no 
relish  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  who  are  glad 
to  find  apologies  for  the  neglect  of  it  ?  "  There," 
says  one,  "  is  a  professor  of  religion,  and  yet 
half  a  day  in  the  Church  is  quite  enough  for  Mm  ; 
and  even  tliat^  I  doubt  not,  he  would  rather  spend 
elsewhere,  if  he  were  not  constrained  by  a  regard 
to  his  profession."  ^' There,"  says  another,  "is 
a  man  who  seems  to  say,  by  his  presence  at  the 
communion  table,  that  there  is  something  in  reli- 
gion, but  he  says  quite  as  plainly,  by  his  irregular 
attendance  at  Church,  that  it  is  doubtful  whether 
there  is  anything  in  it  or  not."  And  thus  the 
negleoter  of  Christian  ordinances,  even  the  de- 
spiser  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  strengthened  in 
irreligion  by  the  example  of  one  of  Christ's  own 
professed  disciples. 


22  MONITORY   LETTERS 

You  would  not,  I  take  for  granted,  seriously 
recommend  the  discontinuance  of  the  afternoon 
service.  You  would  not  be  satisfied  if  your  min- 
ister should  tell  the  people  that  one  service  is 
enough,  and  that  it  were  better  that  he  should 
spend  the  hour  allotted  to  the  second  service  in 
some  other  Tvay  than  in  preaching  to  them.  Or 
if  you  should  hear  that  the  congregation,  in  the 
afternoon,  had  dwindled  down  to  a  mere  handful, 
so  that  it  had  become  a  question  whether  it 
should  be  attempted  any  longer  to  sustain  a  pub- 
lic service,  you  could  not  but  feel  that  such  a 
state  of  things  was  indicative  of  the  prevalence 
of  extreme  worldliness,  and  was  a  just  occasion 
for  the  Church  to  put  on  garments  of  mourning. 
But  do  you  not  see  that  this  is  just  what  you  are 
doing  your  utmost  to  produce  ;  and  that  if  all 
Avere  to  walk  in  your  steps,  there  would  be  no 
preaching  in  the  afternoon,  because  there  would 
be  nobody  to  preach  to  ? 

May  I  not  hope  that  your  seat  in  the  Church, 
during  the  second  service,  will  not  hereafter  be 
vacant  ?  I  assure  you  that  I  am  only  one  of  a 
large  number  who  would  hail  such  a  change  with 
devout  thankfulness.  Believe  me,  your  consis- 
tency, your  happiness,  your  usefulness,  would  all 
be  promoted  by  it. 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  23 


LETTEE   III. 

TO   A    LADY   TVHO    SENDS    HER    CHILDRE!*   TO    THE    DANCING-SCHOOIw 

As  I  have  a  right  to  suppose  that  you  intend 
to  be  governed,  in  all  your  conduct,  by  honest 
convictions  of  duty,  I  take  for  granted,  that  in 
giving  your  children  the  opportunity  to  learn  to 
dance,  you  do  not  act  without  mature  reflection. 
I  feel  constrained  to  say  that  my  judgment  in 
reference  to  this  matter  differs  entirely  from 
yours ;  and  I  am  sure  you  will  not  blame  me,  if  I 
state  to  you  candidly  my  reasons  for  believing,  as 
I  do,  that  you  have  fallen  into  a  serious  practical 
error. 

I  wish,  however,  to  speak  on  the  subject  with 
due  discrimination.  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate, 
that  in  the  mere  act  of  dancing  there  is  anything 
necessarily  wrong.  Dancing,  considered  as  a 
mere  exercise,  and  apart  from  the  circumstances 
which  usually  attend  it,  could  not  reasonably  be 
objected  to.  And  I  can  suppose  circumstances 
in  which,  even  as  an  amusement,  there  might  be 
comparatively  little  to  be  said  against  it.  Never- 
theless I  cannot  view  it,  as  it  actually  exists,  or 
as  it  is  likely  to   exist,  as  other  than  a  serious 


24  MONITORY   LETTEKS 

evil ;  and  I  cannot  but  think,  if  you  will  give  due 
weight  to  the  considerations  which  I  am  about  to 
adduce,  that  you  too  Avill  so  regard  it. 

The  great  argument  that  is  generally  urged, 
and  that  I  suppose  has  prevailed  with  yourself, 
in  favour  of  sending  children  to  the  dancing- 
school,  is  that  it  gives  them  easy  and  graceful 
manners.  My  answer  to  this  is,  that  if  your 
children  are  accustomed  to  refined  society,  they 
do  not  need  any  such  auxiliary.  Their  manners, 
unless  they  happen  to  be  constituted  with  the 
most  invincible  tendencies  to  awkwardness,  will 
become  graceful,  of  course.  If  they  are  not  ac- 
customed to  refined  society,  the  efforts  of  the 
dancing-master  will  accomplish  nothing  more  than 
to  make  them  miserably  affected.  I  remember  to 
have  heard  President  Dwight  once  say,  that 
"  manners  acquired  at  a  dancing-school,  were  apt 
to  be  like  something  tied  on  with  a  tow  string." 
"When  I  was  at  home,  during  one  college  vaca- 
tion, I  found  that  a  new  dispensation  of  refine- 
ment had  opened  upon  my  native  village  in  the 
establishment  of  a  dancing-school.  A  new  set  of 
rules  had  been  given  for  entering  a  room,  for  tak- 
inf^  off  the  hat,  and  divers  other  small  matters 
entering  into  the  economy  of  social  intercourse. 
I  was  unfortunate  enough  to  see  the  new  rules 
reduced  to  practice  first  at  the  Church  door ;  and 
such  was  the  flourish  with  which  the  uncovering 


TO    CnUECH    MEMBERS.  25 

of  tlie  head  was  accompanied,  that  instead  of 
being  grave  enough  to  enter  the  Church,  I  could 
hardly  keep  decent  enough  to  stay  outside.  The 
secret  of  it  was,  that  a  number  of  the  lads  who 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  plainest  way,  were 
then  in  a  course  of  training  under  a  dancing- 
master,  to  become  gentlemen  ;  and  each  one  acted 
as  if  he  thought  that  the  graces  had  all  settled 
en  masse  upon  his  own  person.  For  myself,  I 
had  much  rather  see  rusticity  united  with  simpli- 
city than  with  affectation. 

Allow  me  to  say  that  you  can  yourself  do  more 
to  make  the  manners  of  your  children  what  they 
ought  to  be,  than  all  the  teachers  of  dancing  in 
the  world.  Endeavour  to  encourage  in  them  be- 
nevolent dispositions,  and  check  all  tendency  to 
rudeness  and  impropriety  of  conduct,  and  teach 
them  that  there  is  nothing  so  beautiful  in  man- 
ners as  the  simplicity  of  nature,  and  you  will 
have  little  occasion  to  invoke  any  foreign  aid. 

My  great  objection  to  sending  children  to  a 
dancing  school,  is  that  I  am  persuaded  it  puts  in 
serious  jeopardy  their  immortal  interests.  As 
an  amusement,  it  soon  becomes  exceedingly  at- 
tractive, and  even  absorbing.  Children  will  neg- 
lect their  lessons  in  everything  else,  but  the  lesson 
in  dancing  nothing  must  interfere  with.  The 
young  lady  will  dance  all  night,  though  she  sleeps 
the  whole  of  the  day  before  as  a  preparation,  and 
3 


26  MONITORY   LETTERS 

the  whole  of  the  day  after  as  a  consequence. 
And  then,  too,  she  is  hereby  brought  into  a  scene 
of  unrestrained  levity,  not  to  say  of  boisterous 
mirth  ;  and  if  a  word  were  to  be  spoken  that  had 
even  the  remotest  bearing  upon  a  serious  subject, 
it  would  be  felt  to  be  sadly  out  of  place.  There 
is,  on. these  occasions,  everything  to  stimulate  and 
exhaust  the  animal  nature  ;  and,  I  may  add,  not 
unfrequently  much  to  blunt  the  natural  sense  of 
delicacy,  without  which  female  character  is  never 
really  attractive.  I  think  I  may  appeal  to  all 
experience  to  justify  me,  when  I  say  that  the  di- 
rect tendency  of  mingling  in  such  scenes  is  to 
cherish  spiritual  insensibility,  and  to  render  reli- 
gion every  way  more  distasteful.  Quite  in  har- 
mony with  this  remark  is  the  fact,  that  whenever 
a  young  person,  who  has  been  accustomed  to  at- 
tend balls  and  dancing  parties,  is  brought  to  seri- 
ous consideration,  that  is  uniformly  the  signal  for 
giving  up  all  such  amusements. 

You  will  say,  perhaps,  that  you  agree  with  me 
in  this,  and  that  you  are  no  more  an  advocate  of 
large  dancing  assemblies  than  I  am  ;  but  you  do 
not  consider  it  at  all  a  necessary  or  even  probable 
consequence  of  your  children  learning  to  dance, 
that  they  should  ever  be  found  in  any  such  ad- 
verse circumstances.  But  permit  me  to  ask,  Why 
not  ?  If  they  understand  the  art  of  dancing,  and 
have  acquired,  as  they  naturally  will  in  learning 


TO    CHURCU    MEMBERS.  2T 

it,  a  strong  relish  for  it,  it  is  idle  to  suppose  that 
they  will  never  practise  it  except  within  such 
bounds  as  your  judgment  may  prescribe.  If  they 
have  grown  up  devoted  to  this  amusement,  doubt- 
less they  have  grown  up  in  a  state  of  indifference 
to  religion  ;  and  what  else  can  you  expect  but 
that  their  views  in  regard  to  the  extent  to  which 
the  amusement  may  be  indulged,  will  be  much 
more  liberal  than  your  own  ?  And  by  and  by, 
in  all  probability,  their  importunity  will  prevail 
over  your  scruples,  or  else  they  will  claim  that 
they  are  old  enough  to  judge  and  act  for  them- 
selves. They  have  reached  a  point  now,  where 
you  cannot  disguise  it  to  yourself  that  they  are 
doing  wrong,  and  that  there  is  great  danger  that 
they  will  always  be  ''  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than* 
lovers  of  God."  Have  you  no  painful  sense  of 
responsibility  in  the  case  ?  Would  it  not  have 
been  better  that  you  should  have  never  led  them 
into  this  temptation  ?  If  you  were  to  see  a  be- 
loved child  lying  on  her  death-bed,  without  any 
of  the  consolations  of  religion,  reviewing  a  life 
of  folly,  and  anticipating  an  eternity  of  misery, 
would  there  be  anything  to  alleviate  your  anguish 
in  the  reflection  that  you  had  not  refused  her  the 
advantages  of  the  dancing-school  ? 

I  cannot  but  think  that  the  course  which  you 
are  taking  is  fitted  to  depress  the  standard  of 
Christian  character,  and  to  hinder  the  progress 


28  MONITORY  LETTERS 

of  true  religion.  Your  children  are  given  to  you 
to  educate  for  the  Lord  ;  and  you  have  recognized 
this  obligation  in  dedicating  them  to  him  in  bap- 
tism. But  can  you  really  feel  that  you  are  discharg- 
ing this  obligation  in  having  them  taught  to  dance  ? 
Do  you  even  expect  that  their  thoughts  will  be 
directed  seriously  to  the  subject  of  religion  while 
they  are  thus  being  trained  ?  Nay,  if  this  should 
really  be  the  case,  would  you  not  expect  them  to 
exchange  the  dancing-school  for  the  prayer-meet- 
ing ?  Would  you  give  credit  to  any  pretensions 
of  seriousness  which  they  might  make,  so  long  as 
they  retained  their  accustomed  interest  in  this 
amusement  ?  But  it  is  not  merely  that  you  op- 
pose an  obstacle  to  their  becoming  religious — your 
•example  has  a  much  wider  influence ;  it  helps  to 
confound  the  Church  and  the  world,  and  that  not 
by  bringing  the  world  up,  but  by  bringing  the 
Church  down.  If  professedly  Christian  parents 
will  educate  their  children  upon  mere  worldly 
maxims,  and  with  a  view  chiefly  to  enable  them 
to  shine  in  worldly  circles,  can  we  wonder  that 
the  world  should  look  on  and  say,  with  a  measure 
of  triumph,   "  What  do  ye  more  than  others  ?" 

I  must  not  omit  to  say  that  you  do  not  duly 
consider  your  obligations  to  those  with  whom  you 
have  covenanted  to  walk  in  the  Gospel.  Doubt- 
less there  are  those  among  them  who  see  no  evil 
in  what  you  are  doing ;  who,  on  the  contrary,  tes- 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  29 

tify  their  approbation  of  it  by  doing  the  same 
themselves.  But  I  put  it  to  your  conscience 
whether  these  are  among  the  more  spiritually 
minded  members  of  the  Church  ;  whether,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  are  not  among  those  whom  you 
would  fear  most  to  see  on  a  death-bed ;  and 
whether,  finally,  you  have  not  reason  to  believe 
that  your  example  in  this  very  matter  strengthens 
them  in  their  worldliness.  But  it  is  not  thus 
with  all  your  fellow-professors.  There  are  among 
them  not  a  few  who  believe  your  course  to  be 
fraught  with  serious  evil,  and  who  feel  well  nigh 
paralyzed  by  its  influence  in  their  efforts  to  break 
up  the  reigning  spiritual  lethargy  around  you. 
Your  minister,  too,  I  know,  sympathizes  in  their 
anxiety.  He  feels  that  you  are  opposing  an  ob- 
stacle to  the  success  of  his  labours.  If  he  has 
never  spoken  to  you  on  the  subject,  I  am  sure  it 
is  not  because  the  subject  has  not  rested  heavily 
upon  his  spirit. 

I  will  venture,  finally,  to  say  that  you  are  not 
taking  the  course  which  will  secure  the  highest 
happiness  to  yourself.  You  must,  at  no  distant 
period,  either  die  and  leave  your  children,  or  they 
must  die  and  leave  you.  in  either  case  do  you 
believe  that  you  are  consulting  your  own  highest 
enjoyment  ?  What  gratification  would  you  feel, 
as  you  were  closing  your  eyes  upon  a  beloved 
daughter,  to  reflect  that  she  was  first  in  this  ele- 
3* 


30  MONITORY  LETTERS 

gant  accomplishment,  though  she  had  not  even 
begun  to  think  of  an  hereafter  ?  Or  if  the  case 
should  be  different,  and  she  should  go  before  you 
to  mingle  in  the  scenes  beyond  the  veil,  would 
the  remembrance  of  her  dancing-school  days — 
days  in  which  she  was  trained  to  nothing  but 
vanity — make  it  easy  for  you  to  bend  over  her 
coffin? 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  31 


LETTER    IV. 

TO    ONE    WHO    NEGLECTS    FAMILY   PRAYER. 

It  has  lately  come  to  my  knowledge  that  God 
is  not  acknowledged  in  'your  household.  I  hear 
that  the  whole  day,  the  whole  week,  the  whole 
year  passes,  and  the  voice  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving is  never  once  heard  in  your  dwelling,  un- 
less, indeed,  some  stranger  is  present,  whom,  for 
decency's  sake,  you  ask  to  perform  this  service. 
I  am  deeply  afifected  by  this  piece  of  intelligence 
concerning  you.  The  least  that  I  can  do  is  to 
hold  up  to  you  your  duty,  and  urge  you  to  the 
discharge  of  it. 

Let  me  say,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  this 
duty  is  required  of  you  by  your  own  consistency, 
influence,  and  comfort,  as  the  Christian  head  of  a 
family. 

You  have  not  only  professedly  given  yourself 
away  to  God  in  an  everlasting  covenant,  but  vir- 
tually promised,  in  dependence  on  divine  grace, 
to  endeavour  to  do  every  duty  which  God  requires 
of  you  ;  to  take  up  every  cross  which  you  may 
find  in  your  path.  Now  I  venture  to  say,  if  you 
take  counsel  either  of  God's  word,  or  of  the  voice 


32  MONITORY  LETTERS 

that  cometh  up  from  the  depths  of  your  own 
spirit,  you  do  not  doubt,  you  cannot  doubt,  that 
you  are  bound  to  the  duty  of  family  prayer  ;  and 
if  you  neglect  it  you  cannot  but  feel  that  you  are 
chargeable  with  inconsistency.  Your  Christian 
obligations,  I  am  sure,  must  hang  as  a  heavy 
burden  upon  you,  while  you  are  obliged  to  reflect 
that  there  is  at  least  one  of  them  that  you  de- 
liberately and  habitually  fail  to  discharge. 

Nor  is  the  discharge  of  this  duty  less  essential 
to  your  influence,  as  the  head  of  a  family,  than 
to  your  consistency.  The  very  fact  that  a  palpa- 
ble inconsistency  exists  between  your  conduct  and 
your  obligations,  must  itself  greatly  lessen  your 
Christian  influence  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  faithful  discharge  of  this  duty  would  tend 
greatly  to  increase  it.  Never  does  the  head  of  a 
family  appear  so  venerable  in  the  eyes  of  his 
household,  as  when  he  is  bowing  the  knee  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  acting  in  their  behalf  as  a 
priest  of  the  Most  High  God.  This,  more  than 
almost  anything  else,  imparts  dignity  and  sacred- 
ness  to  the  parental  relation,  while  it  gives  an  air 
of  authority  to  every  other  Christian  duty  which 
the  parent  performs. 

And  your  comfort  is  no  less  concerned  than 
your  consistency  and  influence.  For  how  can 
you  be  happy  when  you  arc  obliged  to  feel  that 
there  is   one   duty,  and  that  a  highly  important 


TO  CHURCH   MEMBERS.  33 

one,  urging  itself  upon  you,  which  you  habitually 
neglect  ?  How  can  you  be  happy  in  the  reflec- 
tion that  there  is  no  altar  consecrated  to  God  in 
your  dwelling,  and  that  the  Author  of  all  your 
blessings  is  never  socially  acknowledged  there  ? 
How  can  you  be  happy  in  the  consciousness  that 
your  neglect  of  duty  may  intercept  the  kindly 
influences  of  God's  grace  in  relation  to  those  who 
are  most  dear  to  you  ?  I  know  you  cannot  be 
happy — you  cannot  even  be  at  ease,  unless  you 
are  sunk  in  spiritual  lethargy. 

Can  you  doubt  that  the  best  interests  of  your 
family  require  this  service  at  your  hands  ?  You 
do  not  question  the  general  importance  or  efiicacy 
of  prayer.  And  in  what  circumstances,  I  ask, 
can  prayer  be  ofl"ered,  where  it  is  more  fitting,  or 
where  more  considerations  combine  to  render  it 
an  impressive  and  deeply  interesting  service,  than 
in  the  family  ?  Those  who  engage  in  it  are  united 
by  the  tenderest  ties  of  life  ;  they  have  common 
blessings  to  supplicate ;  and  their  mutual  affection 
throws  into  their  petitions  an  unwonted  tenderness 
and  fervour.  And  hence  there  are  no  prayers 
that  are  more  likely  to  be  effectual  than  those 
which  go  up  from  the  domestic  altar.  And  if 
there  is  a  connection  between  asking  and  receiv- 
ing, insomuch  that  they  who  ask  not  cannot  ex- 
pect to  receive,  then  how  important  is  it  that 
prayer  should  be  daily  off"ered  up  in  every  family ! 


84  MONITORY   LETTERS 

If  the  blessings  of  renewing  grace  descend  upon 
other  families,  and  not  upon  yours — if  the  chil- 
dren of  other  parents  are  awakened  and  brought 
to  repentance,  w^hile  yours  are  still  walking  in  the 
way  to  death,  how  know  you  but  it  may  be  be- 
cause you  have  never,  as  the  head  of  your  house- 
hold, asked  for  these  blessings  ?  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  a  prayerless  family  should  be,  in  this  most 
important  particular,  an  unblest  family  ? 

And  if  the  performance  of  this  duty  is  fitted 
to  promote  domestic  piety,  not  less  does  it  minis- 
ter to  domestic  order  and  subordination.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  fact  that  this  is  one  of  the  bless- 
ings proper  to  be  supplicated  at  the  domestic  altar, 
the  very  exercise  itself,  when  performed  with  due 
solemnity  and  decorum,  has  a  benign  influence  on 
the  general  order  of  the  family.  Those  who  meet 
together  thus  statedly  for  prayer,  will  hardly  find 
it  in  their  hearts  to  engage  in  domestic  strife,  or 
to  resist  or  evade  parental  authority.  Their 
hearts  will  naturally  be  bound  together  more 
closely ;  and  they  will  feel  their  obligation  to  be 
fellow-helpers  for  the  peace  and  harmony  and 
general  welfare  of  the  family  circle. 

And  this  leads  me  to  remark  that  the  happiness 
of  a  family  is  greatly  promoted  by  the  faithful 
discharge  of  this  duty.  Is  not  that  a  happy  fam- 
ily in  which  religion  prevails,  controlling  alike 
the  actions  of  the  head  and  the  members,  and 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  6b 

diffusing  a  grateful  influence  over  every  relation  ? 
Is  not  that  a  happy  family  where  the  spirit  of 
due  subordination  is  manifested ;  and  each  indi- 
vidual belonging  to  it  knows  and  keeps  his  proper 
place ;  and  each  one  strives  for  the  comfort  and 
benefit  of  all  the  rest  ?  Is  not  that  a  happy 
family  which  keeps  up  a  daily  intercourse  with  the 
Author  of  all  blessing,  and  most  or  all  of  whose 
members  are  permitted  to  recognize  each  other  as 
joint  heirs  to  the  heavenly  inheritance  ?  But  you 
surely  cannot  doubt  that  family  prayer  is  favour- 
able to  each  of  these  objects.  If  they  are  not 
always  completely  attained,  where  this  duty  is 
observed,  I  may  safely  say  that  they  are  never 
attained  where  it  is  neglected. 

The  best  interests  of  the  Church  also  demand 
of  jgn  the  observance  of  this  duty.  This  fol- 
lows from  the  statements  already  made ;  for  the 
family  is  the  nursery  for  the  Church  ;  and  if  fam- 
ily religion  declines,  the  interests  of  the  Church 
languish,  of  course  ;  and  family  religion  must  de- 
cline, where  family  prayer  is  neglected.  How  is 
it  in  point  of  fact  ?  Are  not  far  the  greater  num- 
ber of  those  who,  from  time  to  time,  are  gathered 
into  the  fold  of  Christ,  from  those  families  in 
which  God  is  acknowledged  morning  and  evening  ? 
And  if  you  are  a  Christian,  as  you  profess  to  be, 
is  not  the  welfare  of  the  Church  most  dear  to 
you  ?     Are  you  not  accustomed  to  pray  in  your 


86  MONITORY   LETTERS 

closet  and  in  the  sanctuary,  that  God  will  build 
up  Zion,  and  make  her  a  name  and  a  praise  in 
the  earth  ?  But  how  can  you  offer  such  a  petition, 
if  you  do  nothing  in  your  family  to  accomplish 
the  object  of  it;  especially  if  you  neglect  fam- 
ily devotion,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more 
essential  to  its  accomplishment  ? 

Moreover,  civil  society  also  has  its  claims  upon 
you.  Need  I  say  that  it  is  religion  that  blesses, 
and  vice  that  curses  and  scourges  the  world? 
Religion  purifies  the  fountains  of  social  life. 
Religion  wears  off  the  rough  points  in  the  human 
character.  Religion  enjoins  the  great  duties  of 
justice  and  truth  and  charity.  Religion  is  the 
soul  of  patriotism,  the  nurse  of  philanthropy,  the 
seed  of  all  |)ublic  virtue.  But  we  cannot  expect 
religion  to  prosper  in  the  State,  where  it  do^s  not 
prosper  in  the  family,  and  we  cannot  look  for  the 
prevalence  of  domestic  religion,  without  a  corres- 
ponding prevalence  of  domestic  devotion.  I  say, 
then,  they  who  worship  God  in  their  families, 
thereby  render  an  efficient  service  to  their  coun- 
try ;  for  not  only  are  they  supplicating  directly 
a  blessing  on  their  country,  but  they  are  lending 
an  influence  in  favor  of  domestic  religion ;  and 
religion  diffused  through  all  the  families  of  the 
land,  would  make  us  a  religious  nation.  If  our 
country  ever  becomes  all  that  we  could,  desire,  it 
will  be  in  consequence  of  the  revival  of  family 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  37 

religion  ;  and  the  time,  I  doubt  not,  will  come, 
when  the  man  who  leads  his  family  daily  to  the 
throne  of  mercy,  will  be  recognized  and  reverenced 
as  a  true  patriot,  while  the  blustering  demagogue 
will  have  his  reward  meted  out  to  him  in  the  re- 
probation of  a  virtuous  community. 

If  then  there  are  so  many  interests  involved  in 
the  maintenance  of  domestic  worship ;  if  it  is  a 
duty  that  you  owe  to  yourself,  to  your  family,  to 
the  Church,  and  to  civil  society;  what  further 
considerations  need  I  urge  to  induce  you  seriously 
and  resolutely  to  engage  in  it  ?  In  another  letter, 
I  shall  examine  various  excuses,  some  of  which,  I 
suppose,  you  may  be  pleading  at  the  bar  of  your 
own  conscience,  for  the  neglect  of  this  duty. 
4 


B8  MONITORY   LETTERS 


LETTER   V. 

TO    ONE  WHO    NEGLECTS    FAMILY   PRAYER. 

In  a  preceding  letter  I  have  endeavoured  to 
illustrate  your  obligation  to  acknowledge  God  in 
your  house,  in  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice. 
As  you  live  habitually  in  the  neglect  of  this,  I 
suppose  you  have  some  excuse  for  your  conduct 
with  which  you  at  least  try  to  be  satisfied.  I  do 
not  know  what  it  is ;  but  I  propose  to  examine 
several  that  are  most  commonly  urged,  in  the 
hope  that  I  may  include  that  on  which  you  chiefly 
depend. 

There  are  those,  then,  who  say  that  there  is  no 
divine  warrant  for  family  prayer — nothing  in  the 
Bible  that  requires  of  them  such  a  service ;  and 
so  long  as  we  cannot  urge  divine  authority  in  the 
matter,  it  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  urge  any  other. 

Suppose  it  be  admitted  that  this  duty  is  not  re- 
quired in  the  Scriptures  inform^  as  distinct  from 
religious  worship  on  all  other  occasions,  yet  will 
any  considerate  person  say  that  this  is  to  be  ta- 
ken for  evidence  that  it  is  not  required  at  all  ? 
Then  is  there  no  scriptural  warrant  for  bringing 
our  children  to  be  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism ; 


TO   CnURCH   MEMBERS.  39 

none  for  observing  the  first  day  of  tlie  week  as 
the  Sabbath  ;  none  for  admitting  females  to  the 
Lord's  table.  If  you  do  not  doubt  the  obligation 
to  these  latter  duties,  on  the  ground  that  they 
are  not  expressly  required  in  God's  word,  no 
more  can  you  doubt,  on  the  same  ground,  your 
obligation  to  the  former. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  prayer,  in  the 
most  general  sense,  is  nowhere  enjoined  in  the 
Scriptures  as  a  duty  which  was  before  unknown, 
or  as  the  subject  of  a  new  institution ;  and  that 
the  first  injunction  of  this  duty,  the  terms  of 
which  regard  it  as  in  any  sense  generally  obliga- 
tory, was  given  when  the  world  was  about  three 
thousand  years  old,  and  the  Jewish  church  about 
eight  hundred.  It  is  hence  fairly  inferable  that 
the  Sciyptures  did  not  intend  to  institute  this 
duty  anew  in  any  passage  whatever.  They  treated 
the  duty  as  one  which  had  been  acknowledged 
from  the  beginning  ;  and  all  that  they  had  to  do 
was  to  give  directions  in  respect  to  the  time,  man- 
ner, and  spirit  of  its  performance.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  the  subject  is  taken  up,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  treated,  would  lead  us  to 
expect  what  we  actually  find — general  directions 
concerning  the  duty  of  prayer,  rather  than  spe- 
cific directions  concerning  any  particular  form 
of  it. 

But  let  us  see  whether  there  is  not  enough  in 


iO  MONITORY   LETTERS 

the  Bible  to  constitute  a  scriptural  warrant  to 
this  duty.  Let  us  see  whether  there  are  not  ex- 
amples which  have  the  force  of  commands,  and 
commands  which  are  too  explicit  to  justify  doubt. 

What,  then,  are  some  of  the  most  striking  ex- 
amples of  domestic  worship,  which  have  been 
transmitted  to  us  in  the  Scriptures  with  the  mark 
of  God's  approbation  ? 

Abraham  is  an  example.  Wherever  he  so- 
journed, he  built  an  altar  to  the  Lord,  and  called 
upon  his  name  ;  and  God  expressed  his  approba- 
tion of  his  character  as  the  head  of  a  family  in 
these  memorable  words — "  I  know  him,  that  he 
will  command  his  children  and  household  after 
him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to 
do  justice  and  judgment,  that  the  Lord  may  bring 
upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath  spoken^f  him." 
Joshua  is  an  example.  Having  exhorted  the 
people  of  Israel  to  put  away  their  strange  gods, 
meaning  the  gods  of  Abraham's  idolatrous  ances- 
tors, and  serve  Jehovah,  he  says — "  If  it  seem 
evil  to  you  to  serve  the  Lord,  choose  ye  this  day 
whom  ye  will  serve ;  but  as  for  me  and  my  house, 
we  will  serve  the  Lord."  But  in  what  way  could 
Joshua  resolve  for  his  family  as  well  as  himself, 
that  they  should  serve  the  Lord,  except  as  he 
maintained  stated  forms  of  social  worship  in  his 
house,  at  which  he  required  that  they  should  be 
present  ?     Job  was  an  example.     When  his  chil- 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  41 

dren,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  day,  were 
holding  a  natal  feast,  ^'  he  sent  and  sanctified 
them,  and  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  of- 
fered sacrifice  according  to  the  number  of  them 
all."  And  it  is  added,  "Thus  did  Job  continu- 
ally." You  will  say,  perhaps,  that  Job's  chil- 
dren had  become  the  heads  of  separate  families, 
and  were  scattered  about  in  the  neighbourhood, 
so  that  this  was  at  best  only  an  example  of  occa- 
sional domestic  worship.  But  you  are  to  recollect 
that,  in  those  early  times,  the  father  officiated  as 
a  priest  among  his  children ;  and  if  Job,  after  his 
children  had  left  him  and  were  settled  in  their 
own  habitations,  still  availed  himself  of  every  op- 
portunity to  gather  them  around  the  dom-estic 
altar,  it  surely  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  required 
them  statedly  to  engage  in  this  exercise,  while 
they  were  yet  the  inmates  of  his  own  dwelling. 
David  is  an  example.  It  is  expressly  said  of 
him,  that  after  all  the  people  had  departed,  every 
man  to  his  house,  "  he  returned  to  bless  his  house- 
hold." Cornelius,  the  centurion,  was  an  example ; 
for  the  apostle  says  of  him  that  he  "  was  a  de- 
vout man,  and  one  who  feared  God  with  all  his 
house  ;  and  prayed  to  God  alway ;"  or  daily,  at 
the  stated  hours  of  prayer,  which  were  morning 
and  evening.  And  in  the  apostolic  times,  we  find 
frequent  mention  made  of  Churches  in  particular 

houses.     We  meet  with  frequent  salutations  "  to 
4* 


42  MONITORY   LETTERS 

such  an  one  and  the  Church  in  his  house ;"  and 
'''from  such  an  one  and  the  Church  in  his  house ;" 
the  Church  here  evidently  meaning  nothing  else 
than  a  Christian  family.  But  what  else  is  the 
Church  than  a  society  of  Christians,  united  in  the 
worship  of  God ;  and  in  what  sense  can  a  family 
be  called  a  Church,  except  as  its  members  are 
united  in  acts  of  social  worship,  thus  forming  a 
resemblance  to  a  Church  ?  So  much  in  the  way 
of  example. 

But  do  you  ask  for  precepts  requiring  this  duty  ? 
You  shall  have  them.  "Pray  always  with  all 
prayer,"  says  the  Apostle.  All  prayer  must  in- 
clude family  prayer ;  and  the  word  always  has 
reference  to  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice  ; 
and,  therefore,  plainly  directs  us  to  morning  and 
evening  prayer.  The  Lord's  prayer  is  an  express 
injunction  of  this  duty ;  for  it  is  introduced  in 
the  form  of  a  precept.  "  After  this  manner  pray 
ye."  He  had  first  given  his  disciples  directions 
for  solitary  prayer;  and  here  he  changes  the 
number  from  the  singular  to  the  plural,  and 
directs  them  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  social  wor 
ship.  That  this  form  is  intended  to  guide  us, 
not  only  in  social,  but  daily  prayer,  is  evident 
from  the  petition,  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread;"  and  that  family  prayer  must  here  be 
principally  intended,  is  evident  from  the  fact 
already  alluded  to — that  a  family  is  the  only  so- 


TO   CHURCH  MEMBERS.  43 

ciety  that  can  meet  for  daily  prayer.  Again,  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  the  Apostle,  after 
having  treated  the  various  domestic  and  relative 
duties,  subjoins  the  following  precept :  "  Continu- 
ing instant  in  prayer,  and  watching  in  the  same 
with  thanksgiving."  As  he  had  been  treating  on 
the  duties  incumbent  on  families,  it^ould  be  a 
forced  construction  to  suppose  that  any  thing 
else  than  family  prayer  is  here  intended.  And 
finally,  the  Apostle  Peter,  after  having  pointed 
out  the  reciprocal  duties  of  husbands  and  wives, 
directs  them  to  regard  each  other  as  being  heirs 
together  of  the  grace  of  life ;  and  the  general 
reason  which  he  assigns  is,  "  That  their  prayers 
be  not  hindered."  It  has  been  justly  remarked 
upon  this  passage,  that  "  the  necessity  of  a  suita- 
ble performance  of  the  duty  of  prayer  is  here 
made  an  argument  for  other  domestic  duties.  An 
argument  used  to  prove  the  obligation,  or  urge 
the  practice  of  every  duty,  is  always  supposed  to 
be  more  plain,  if  possible,  than  the  duty  recom- 
mended. When,  therefore,  the  Apostle,  from  the 
danger  of  the  interruption  of  their  prayers,  urges 
the  wife  to  be  subject  to  her  husband,  and  him  to 
give  honour  to  her,  he  supposes  it  to  be  more  ob- 
vious that  they  should  live  together  in  social 
prayer,  than  that  she  should  be  obedient  to  him, 
or  that  he  should  give  honour  to  her." 

Enough,  I  trust,  has  been  said  to  satisfy  you 


44  MONITORY  LETTERS 

that  the  plea  that  there  is  no  warrant  for  this  duty 
in  Scripture,  is  utterly  without  foundation,  and 
could  never  have  been  advanced,  but  from  an 
aversion  to  the  duty  itself.  There  are  some  other 
objections  that  deserve  consideration ;  but  they 
must  form  the  subject  of  another  letter. 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  45 


LETTER    VI. 

TO    ONE   WHO   NEGLECTS   FAMILY   PRATER. 

In  my  last  letter  I  considered,  at  some  length, 
an  objection  that  is  sometimes  made  against  the 
duty  of  family  prayer — that  there  is  no  express 
warrant  for  it  in  the  Bible.  There  are  two  or 
three  other  objections  equally  futile,  which  I  will 
now  endeavour  to  answer. 

There  are  some — and,  for  aught  I  know,  you 
may  be  one  of  this  class — who  plead  a  constitu- 
tional timidity  and  diffidence  as  a  reason  for  the 
neglect  of  this  duty.  But  let  me  ask,  Does  this 
timidity  and  diffidence  extend  to  other  things,  es- 
pecially to  those  things  upon  which  your  heart  is 
strongly  set  ?  How  is  it  in  regard  to  your  daily 
pursuits  ?  Are  you  diffident  in  your  worldly  en- 
gagements ;  diffident  in  making  your  bargains  ; 
diffident  in  forming  or  executing  plans  for  accu- 
mulating wealth,  for  increasing  influence,  or  for 
any  of  the  purposes  of  self-indulgence  ?  Does 
the  world  regard  you  as  a  diffident  man  ?  Do 
you  even  regard  yourself  so  on  any  other  subject 
than  this — at  least  on  any  that  is  not  connected 
with  some  point  of  religious  duty  ?     If  you  can 


46  MONITOKY   LETTERS 

hold  up  your  head  and  be  courageous  any  where 
else,  how  happens  it  that  your  courage  all  leaves 
you  at  the  thought  of  approaching  the  domestic 
altar  ?  Have  you  not  reason  to  fear  that  that 
diffidence,  w^hich  keeps  you  from  this  duty,  is 
closely  allied  to  that  shame  to  which  Jesus  re- 
fers when  he  says  :  "  Whosoever  is  ashamed  of 
me  and  of  my  words,  of  him  will  the  Son  of  Man 
be  ashamed,  when  he  comes  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father  with  his  holy  angels." 

You  say,  perhaps,  that  you  cannot  find  suitable 
thoughts  and  expressions  for  prayer.  But  have 
you  no  sins  to  be  forgiven — no  wants  to  be  sup- 
plied— no  blessings  to  be  thankful  for  ?  If  you 
have  offended  a  fellow-mortal,  and  feel  pressed 
with  the  duty  of  acknowledging  your  fault,  have 
you  no  language  in  which  to  do  it  ?  If  you 
greatly  need  some  favour,  which  it  is  in  the  power 
of  a  fellow-mortal  to  bestow,  have  you  no  lan- 
guage in  which  to  ask  him  for  it  ?  If  you  have 
actually  had  some  great  favour  conferred  upon 
you,  which  has  brought  your  gratitude  into  lively 
exercise,  have  you  no  language  in  which  to  ex- 
press your  obligations  ?  If  you  can  be  unem- 
barrassed, and  even  fluent,  in  all  these  cases, 
wherefore  is  it  that  you  have  no  thoughts,  no  ex- 
pressions, appropriate  to  the  corresponding  duties 
which  you  owe  to  God  ?  Let  a  person  become 
deeply  concerned  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul, 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  4T 

and  clo  you  think  he  will  ordinarily  want  words 
in  which  to  plead  for  forgiveness  ?  Beware,  lest 
your  inability  should  prove  to  be  an  inability  of 
the  heart ;  lest  the  true  reason  why  you  cannot 
pray  should  be  found  at  last  to  be  that  you  do  not 
desire  to  pray. 

But  suppose  it  to  be  otherwise,  and  from  consti- 
tutional diffidence,  or  long  continued  habit,  you 
really  have  not  the  power  of  rendering  your 
family  devotions  an  edifying  exercise — there  is 
still  a  remedy  even  for  this  difficulty ;  there  are 
excellent  forms  of  domestic  worship  into  which 
you  may  throw  the  spirit  of  a  fervent  devotion ; 
and  though  it  were  doubtless  better,  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  that  family  prayer  should  be  extemporane- 
ous, yet  I  cannot  doubt  that  a  form  may  be  used, 
often  is  used,  to  great  advantage,  and  with  the 
divine  acceptance ;  so  that  here  is  a  substitute 
provided  for  you — a  help  for  your  infirmities  ;  and 
if  you  do  not  avail  yourself  of  it,  what  becomes 
of  your  plea  of  inability  to  give  a  suitable  direc- 
tion to  your  thoughts,  or  to  give  utterance  to 
your  thoughts  in  appropriate  expressions  ?  If 
you  refuse  to  perform  this  duty,  even  when  these 
helps  are  provided  for  you,  what  else  can  we  con- 
clude than  that  your  plea  is  insincere,  and  that  it 
is  used  merely  as  an  opiate  to  a  wakeful  con- 
science ? 

There  is  yet  another  objection  which  I  have 
heard  urged  by  some — namely,  that  they  could 


48  MONITORY   LETTERS 

not  perform  this  duty  without  meeting  with  oppo- 
sition, if  not  being  subjected  to  reproach  and  ridi- 
cule, from  their  own  families. 

But  in  reply  to  this,  I  would  say  that  there  is 
in  the  human  heart  an  instinctive  reverence  for 
religion  ;  so  that  it  has  sometimes  been  manifested 
even  by  infidels.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  there- 
fore, that  children,  in  any  ordinary  circumstan- 
ces, will  venture  to  trifle  with  this  duty,  especially 
when  it  is  associated  with  the  dignity,  tenderness, 
and  authority  of  the  parental  character.  And  as 
for  women,  especially  in  our  own  country — en- 
lightened and  elevated  as  it  is  by  an  evangelical 
influence,  it  is  a  rare  case  that  you  will  find  one 
who  will  venture  to  discourage,  in  any  direct  man- 
ner, the  duty  of  family  devotion.  But  I  would 
ask  the  person  who  off"ers  this  objection,  whether 
he  is  really  speaking  from  experience.  Have  you 
made  the  effort  to  bring  your  family  around  the 
domestic  altar,  and  has  it  actually  failed  from 
their  aversion  to  mingling  in  such  a  service  ?  If 
you  have  not  done  this,  make  the  trial,  I  entreat 
you,  at  once  ;  and  see  if  you  do  not  have  occa- 
sion to  tell  me,  when  I  meet  you,  that,  instead  of 
opposition,  you  have  found  every  encouragement 
you  could  desire  in  the  discharge  of  this  duty. 

I  leave  this  whole  subject  now  with  your  con- 
science, earnestly  hoping  that  it  may  not  be  in 
vain  that  it  has  been  brought  to  your  consider- 
ation. 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  4^ 


LETTER  VII. 

TO    ONE    WHO    TRAVELS    ON    THE    SABBATH. 

It  is  a  subject  of  deep  regret  with  many  of 
your  Christian  friends,  that  you  recently  returned 
home  from  a  journey  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is  un- 
derstood, moreover,  that  you  travelled  on  the  Sab- 
bath repeatedly  during  your  absence ;  in  short, 
that  you  have  no  scruples  in  spending  God's  holy 
day  in  this  way,  whenever  your  convenience  may 
require.  You  cannot  think  it  unreasonable,  sus- 
taining the  relation  to  you  that  I  do,  that  I  should 
ask  you  to  look  at  this  matter  in  some  of  its  more 
practical  and  solemn  bearings. 

There  are  those,  I  know,  who  deny  that  the 
Christian  Sabbath  has  the  sanction  of  divine  au- 
thority ;  and,  of  course,  whatever  they  may  think 
of  its  importance  as  a  human  institution,  they 
have  no  idea  that  any  respect  is  due  to  it  as  an 
ordinance  of  God.  This  lax  opinion  in  respect  to 
the  Sabbath  prevails  extensively,  as  you  are 
doubtless  aware,  on  the  continent  of  Europe ; 
and  hence  American  Christians  who  travel  in 
those  countries  are  often  shocked  at  the  manner 
in  which  the  Sabbath  is  treated,  even  by  those 
5 


"60  MONITORY   LETTERS 

whose  viewfi  of  religious  truth  generally  are  in 
accordance  with  our  own.  But  I  have  never  un- 
derstood that  you  had  expressed  any  doubts  as  to 
the  question  whether  or  not  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath is  a  divine  institution ;  and  I  shall  take  for 
granted,  in  this  communication,  that  you  do  not 
feel  any. 

Is  it  not  obvious,  then,  upon  your  own  princi- 
ples, that  in  travelling  needlessly  on  the  Sabbath, 
you  offend  directly  against  one  of  the  laws  of  God 
— nay,  that  you  do  so  deliberately,  and  with  your 
eyes  open  ?  You  profess  to  believe  that  God  re- 
quires you  to  remember  the  Sabbath-day,  to  keep 
it  holy;  and  yet,  in  the  face  of  that  command, 
you  pervert  it  by  needless  travelling,  to  purposes 
of  mere  worldly  gratification,  or  worldly  profit. 
And  are  you,  who  have  professed  to  be  a  servant 
of  God,  and  have  pledged  yourself  to  walk  in  the 
way  of  his  statutes,  prepared  thus  to  assume  the 
attitude  of  a  transgressor  ?  Can  you,  while  you 
thus  deliberately  violate  one  of  the  command- 
ments, flatter  yourself  that  you  have  really  any 
regard  to  the  divine  authority  ?  Do  not  your 
Sabbath-day  journeys  sometimes  come  as  a  most 
unwelcome  subject  of  reflection  at  the  commu- 
nion table  ? 

But  you  propound  to  me  particular  cases.  You 
say  you  have  been  absent  from  your  family  for 
weeks,  and  you  are  impatient  to  see  them  ;  that 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  51 

you  know  not  but  that  some  of  them  may  be  sick, 
and  may  require  your  presence  and  aid  ;  and  you 
ask  me  whether,  in  such  a  case,  you  are  not  at 
liberty  to  press  on,  even  through  the  hours  of  the 
Sabbath,  that  you  may  reach  them  as  early  as 
possible.  I  answer,  that  if  you  have  heard  that 
any  of  them  are  seriously  ill,  or  if  you  have  any 
special  reason  for  believing  that  they  are,  doubt- 
less you  are  justified  in  continuing  your  journey 
on  the  Sabbath,  that  you  may  lose  no  time  in  be- 
ing with  them.  But  the  mere  'possibility  that  this 
may  be  the  case,  because  they  live  in  a  world  in 
which  there  is  more  or  less  of  sickness  always, 
does  not  constitute  even  the  semblance  of  a  plea 
for  your  infringing  on  holy  time.  Still  less  is  it 
to  be  admitted  as  a  justifying  circumstance,  that 
your  afi*ection  urges  you  forward  to  meet  them, 
and  that  after  an  absence  of  many  days  or  weeks, 
you  know  not  how  to  submit  to  a  longer  separa- 
tion. The  same  Being  who  gave  you  your  natu- 
ral affections  to  be  indulged  within  proper  limits, 
has  ordained  the  Sabbath,  and  required  your  ob- 
servance of  it ;  and  he  does  not  allow  any  inter- 
ference between  your  duty  to  your  families  and 
your  duty  to  himself.  If  the  Sabbath  overtakes 
you  when  you  are  on  a  journey,  you  will  render 
far  better  service  to  your  families  by  pausing  on 
your  way,  and  commending  them  to  God's  bles- 
sing, than  you  will  by  hastening  forward  to  meet 


52  MONITORY  LETTER3 

them,  in  violation  of  God's  commandment.  You 
are  safe  in  acting  upon  the  presumption  that  the 
Being  whom  you  profess  to  serve,  "will  have 
mercy,  and  not  sacrifice  ;"  but  you  are  not  war- 
ranted in  listening  to  the  pleas  of  natural  affec- 
tion, when  natural  affection  would  justify  what 
God's  word  absolutely  forbids. 

You  propose  another  case.  You  find  yourself 
distant  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  home  on 
Saturday  night ;  and  you  ask  whether  you  are 
not  justified  in  spending  the  night  in  a  steam- 
boat, and  reaching  home  early  the  next  morning, 
rather  than  remain  where  you  are,  and  perhaps 
spend  the  Sabbath  in  a  hotel.  I  am  constrained 
to  say,  I  think  not.  For,  take  the  best  view  of 
the  case  jou  can,  you  certainly  pervert  several 
hours  of  the  Sabbath  to  a  worldly  purpose  ;  or 
if  you  say  that  you  do  nothing  worse  than  sleep, 
the  answer  is,  that  the  boat  in  which  you  travel 
is  not  managed  by  sleepers,  and  that  you  patron- 
ize a  systematic  violation  of  God's  holy  day.  Be- 
sides, you  are  not  hid  among  your  fellow  passen- 
gers ;  many  of  them  know  you,  and  some,  at 
least,  know  that  you  are  a  professor  of  religion ; 
ajid  there  are  still  more  who  vail  recognize  you 
as  such,  when,  you  leave  the  boat  in  the  morning. 
The  consequence  is,  that  your  example  helps  to 
lower  the  standard  of  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath.    The  man  of  the  world,  who,  nevertheless, 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  53 

has  some  reverence  for  holy  time,  in  consequence, 
perhaps,  of  a  religious  education,  will  now  set  oflf 
on  a  journey  on  Sabbath  morning,  without  scru- 
ple, and  feel  that  he  places  himself  under  the 
wing  of  your  example.  Depend  on  it,  in  your 
walk  from  your  landing  place  to  your  dwelling, 
you  are  a  conspicuous  object;  and  there  are 
things  said  of  you  by  some  of  the  passers-by, 
that  would  tnake  your  ears  tingle.  I  advise  you, 
in  all  ordinary  cases,  to  remain  until  Monday, 
wherever  you  are  when  Saturday  night  overtakes 
you.  It  will  be  a  poor  preparation  for  profiting 
by  the  privileges  of  the  Sabbath,  to  spend  its 
first  hours  in  breaking  God's  holy  layr. 
}  Let  me  say  that,  as  there  is  a  blessing  proniised 
to  the  faithful  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  so  you 
have  a  right  to  expect  a  peculiar  blessing,  when 
you  observe  it  at  what  seems  to  be  a  manifest 
worldly  sacrifice.  One  thing,  at  least,  you  are 
sure  to  accomplish — you  render  a  testimony  in 
favour  of  the  Sabbath,  which  is  of  great  impor- 
tance, especially  in  this  Sabbath-breaking  age 
— you  help  to  deepen  the  public  sentiment  as  to 
its  importance,  and  thus  to  throw  a  wall  of  fire 
around  this  divine  institution.  I  knew  an  indi- 
vidual several  years  ago,  Avho  was  travelling  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health,  in  a  part  of  one  of  the 
Middle  States,  in  which  the  Sabbath  was  not 
much  observed.  The  stage  reached  a  certain  place 


54  MONITORY  LETTERS 

late  on  a  Saturday  afternoon,  and  his  fellow- 
passengers  perceived  that  he  was  making  his  ar- 
rangements to  stop  ;  and  as  they  knew  he  had 
not  reached  the  end  of  his  journey,  they  earnestly 
inquired  the  cause.  He  told  them  that  the  Sab- 
bath was  just  at  hand,  and  he  felt  under  ob- 
ligation to  observe  it.  They  thought  it  prepos- 
terous that  he  should  make  such  a  sacrifice,  and 
to  induce  him  to  proceed,  they  told  him  that  he 
could  not  find  in  that  place  even  decent  accom- 
modations for  a  man  in  health,  much  less  comfor- 
table ones  for  an  invalid,  whereas,  by  going  on 
with  them,  he  would  find  himself  early  the  next 
morning  in  a  large  town,  where  everything  would 
be  to  his  mind,  and,  withal,  he  would  be  there 
in  time  to  attend  church.  The  appeal,  however, 
did  not  avail,  and  he  stopped  almost  in  the  woods, 
and  settled  down  to  spend  the  Sabbath.  The 
next  day  he  met  a  little  company  of  Christians  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  engaged  with  them  in 
sociaLworship  ;  and  the  day  succeeding  proceeded 
on  his  journey.  In  all  this,  he  thought  of  nothing 
beyond  keeping  a  conscience  void  of  offence,  in 
yielding  to  a  divine  requirement.  But  after  many 
years  had  passed  away,  and  he  had  even  for- 
gotten the  name  of  the  place  at  which  he  stopped, 
he  met  a  gentleman  who  resided  there  at  the 
time,  and  who  asked  him  if  he  remembered  the  -< 
circumstance  of  his  having  once  passed  a  Sabbath 


TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  55 

there.  On  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  the 
gentleman  remarked  to  him,  "You  have  probably 
never  known  how  much  good  you  accomplished  on 
that  day.  So  uncommon  was  it  for  people  in  that 
part  of  the  country  to  let  the  Sabbath  detain  them 
on  a  journey,  that  your  example  in  the  matter 
was  talked  about  far  and  near  ;  and  while  it  came 
as  a  rebuke  to  the  multitude,  it  came  no  less  as 
an  encouragement  to  the  few  who  sympathized 
with  you  in  your  regard  for  this  divine  institu- 
tion." 

There  is  one  effect  which  this  loose  way  of 
treating  the  Sabbath  must  always  have,  which  is 
exceedingly  adverse  to  the  general  influence  of 
the  Church — it  produces  the  impression  that 
Christian  principle  is  not  so  strong,  but  that  it 
can  easily  yield  to  convenience.  Your  doctrine 
is  that  the  Sabbath  is  to  be  kept  holy ;  and  if  any 
body  were  to  teach  a  contrary  doctrine,  you  would, 
perhaps,  be  shocked  at  it ;  nevertheless,  if  you 
have  any  worldly  object  to  accomplish,  y^ou  can 
reach  home  on  the  Sabbath,  or  you  can  leave 
home  on  the  Sabbath,  as  if  there  were  no  divine 
prohibition  in  your  way.  "What  sort  of  a  reli- 
gion," asks  a  scrutinizing  and  cavilling  world,  "is 
that  which  obeys  the  divine  commands  only  when 
it  is  convenient  ?  What  sort  of  a  conscience  is 
that  which  accepts  as  an  apology  for  breaking  the 
fourth  commandment,  the  prospect  of  some  worldly 


56  MONITORY  LETTERS 

advantage  ?  Is  it  not  safe  to  neglect  a  religion 
which  sits  so  easily  upon  its  professors  as  this?" 
True,  there  is  nothing  in  this  reasoning  but  false- 
hood and  absurdity  ;  but  who  would  wish  to  give 
occasion  for  it  ? — who  would  willingly  be  respon- 
sible for  the  consequences  of  it  ? 


TO   CHURCH  MEMBERS.  57 


LETTER  yill. 

TO  ONE  WHO   NEGLECTS  THE  WEEK-DAY  SERVICES  OF   THE    CHURCH. 

I  AM  no  advocate  for  erecting  false  standards 
of  Christian  character.  I  would  be  far  from  de- 
priving any  man  of  his  Christian  liberty,  in  re- 
spect to  matters  concerning  which  there  are  only 
general  directions  in  the  word  of  God.  Least  of 
all  would  I  venture  to  say  that,  unless  an  indi- 
vidual enters  fully  into  my  views  of  Christian  in- 
tercourse or  social  worship,  and  attends  all  the 
meetings  during  the  week  that  I  may  think  would 
be  useful  to  him,  he  ought  to  be  regarded  as  mak- 
ing shipwreck  of  Christian  obligation.  I  freely 
acknowledge  that  I  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 
In  all  matters  in  which  God  has  not  spoken  defi- 
nitely, I  would  say,  let  every  man  examine  for 
himself,  and  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind ; 
and  though  he  may  reach  a  conclusion,  or  adopt 
a  course,  which  may  not  seem  to  me  fully  to  har- 
monize with  the  general  spirit  of  the  divine  re- 
quirements, yet,  if  I  cannot  point  to  an  actual 
prohibition,  it  is  with  an  ill  grace,  surely,  that 
I  call  in  question,  on  this  ground,  his  claims  to 
the  character  of  a  Christian, 


58  MONITORY  LETTERS 

Now,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  among  the 
matters  which  God  has  left,  in  a  great  degree,  to 
the  control  of  human  prudence,  is  the  regulation 
of  the  social  religious  services  proper  to  be  ob- 
served by  Christians  during  the  week.  It  must 
be  acknow^ledged,  also,  that,  in  later  years  especi- 
ally, a  disposition  has  been  manifested  in  many 
churches,  to  multiply  these  extra  services  to  an 
injudicious  and  hurtful  extreme ;  and  that  the 
effect  of  it  has  been  actually  to  disparage  God's 
own  institutions.  But  while  this  tendency  is 
greatly  to  be  deprecated,  I  suppose  there  are  very 
few  members  of  evangelical  Churches  who  would 
be  willing  to  dispense  wath  all  such  services — who 
would  not  feel  as  if  the  prosperity  of  religion 
was,  in  some  degree,  identified  with  occasional 
meetings  of  Christians  on  week-days,  for  social 
religious  improvement.  And  if  such  services  are 
to  be  encouraged  at  all,  I  take  for  granted,  that 
a  single  lecture  and  a  prayer-meeting  or  two,  in 
the  course  of  the  week,  could  not  be  considered 
as  in  any  degree  extravagant.  This,  I  believe,  is 
about  what  exists  in  your  own  Church ;  and  yet 
you  do  not  think  proper  to  encourage  any  of  these 
services  by  your  presence. 

Allow  me,  first  of  all,  to  inquire  whether  you 
do  not  think  it  important  that  these  meetings 
should  be  kept  up ;  and  if  your  minister  should 
announce  from  the  pulpit,  that  hereafter  there 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  59 

"would  be  no  social  religious  exercises,  except  on 
the  Sabbath,  would  jou  not  feel  in  your  heart 
that  it  augured  ill  to  the  interests  of  religion 
among  you  ?  Nay,  would  you  not  be  ready  to 
say,  "If  this  man  is  unwilling  to  keep  up  the  week- 
day services  of  the  Church,  let  us  exchange  him 
for  one  who  will  not  show  himself  a  patron  of 
any  such  innovations  ?''  But  how  could  you  say 
this  with  the  least  shadow  of  consistency,  so  long 
as  you  never  attend  upon  any  of  these  exercises 
yourself?  If  they  are  important  to  others — and 
of  this  you  do  not  profess  to  doubt — they  are  just 
as  important  to  you ;  and  yet  your  conduct  would 
seem  to  imply  that  they  are  of  no  importance  to 
you  whatever.  I  am  glad  that  you  are  right  on 
this  subject,  even  in  theory ;  but  you  cannot  but 
see  that  there  is  a  sad  contradiction  between  your 
theory  and  your  practice.  If  all  were  to  do  as 
you  do,  the  meetings  would  be  discontinued,  how- 
ever much  your  minister  might  do  to  sustain 
them. 

But  you  tell  me  that  these  meetings  are  de- 
signed for  persons  who  have  more  leisure  than 
you  are  able  to  command.  You  are  immersed  in 
business;  and  when  the  hour  for  the  meeting 
comes  round,  you  have  worldly  engagements  that 
you  cannot  set  aside  ;  and  though  you  wish  well 
to  the  meeting,  you  cannot  possibly  find  time  to 
attend  it.     But  wherefore  is  it,  let  me  ask,  that 


60  MONITORY  LETTERS 

you  are  burdened  by  these  ever  recurring  engage- 
ments ?  I  will  tell  you.  It  is  because  you  have 
voluntarily  admitted  them  as  part  of  the  economy 
of  your  life ;  it  is  because  you  have  so  arranged 
your  plans  that  the  carrying  of  them  out  occupies 
time  which  you  ought  to  devote  to  other  and 
higher  purposes.  What  you  ought  to  do,  and 
what  you  might  easily  still  do,  would  be  to  adjust 
your  worldly  concerns,  with  reference  to  these  so- 
cial religious  services;  and  if  your  attendance 
upon  them  were  to  be  regarded  as  coming  into 
the  regular  routine  of  your  weekly  engagements, 
the  difficulty  of  which  you  complain  would  soon 
cease  to  be  felt.  Besides,  when  you  plead  the 
want  of  time,  is  there  nothing  in  your  experience 
to  give  to  this  plea  the  character  of  inconsistency 
— nothing  to  suggest  a  doubt  whether  you  may 
not  have  deceived  yourself  in  urging  it  ?  Let  me 
ask,  are  you  equally  pressed  for  time  when  other 
matters  claim  your  attention  ?  If  some  splendid 
concert  of  music  attracts  you,  or  if  you  are  in- 
vited to  some  political  meeting,  or  to  some  bril- 
liant scene  in  the  world  of  fashion,  do  you  excuse 
yourself  on  the  ground  of  your  multiplied  engage- 
ments ?  or  do  you  not  rather  find  it  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  put  your  engagements  aside,  until  you  shall 
have  drunk  the  cup  of  pleasure  that  is  proffered 
to  you?  What  becomes  now  of  your  excuse, 
that  you  have  no  time  to  attend  a  lecture  or  a 


TO   CHURCH  MEMBERS.  61 

prayer-meeting  ?  If  the  lecture  or  the  prayer- 
meeting  were  as  much  to  your  taste  as  a  political 
gathering  or  a  party  of  pleasure,  would  you  be 
likely  to  complain  of  the  want  of  leisure  in  the 
former  case,  any  more  than  in  the  latter  ? 

I  cannot  but  think  that  your  course  is  greatly 
prejudicial  to  your  own  interests  as  a  Christian. 
In  the  first  place,  if  it  is  really  dictated  by  a 
Bpii'it  of  indifference  to  religious  exercises,  have 
you  not  reason  to  fear  that  that  spirit  is  to  be  taken 
as  an  indication  that  you  are  a  stranger  to  true 
religion  ?  Certainly  the  least  unfavourable  infer- 
ence that  you  can  draw  from  it  is,  that  religion  is 
at  a  low  ebb  in  your  heart,  and  that  your  Chris- 
tian graces  are  undergoing  a  temporary  eclipse. 
But  another  and  highly  important  view  of  the 
case  is  this — if  you  are  a  true  Christian,  you  need 
all  the  helps  which  are  afforded  by  these  services 
to  enable  you  to  withstand  the  constant  pressure 
of  worldly  influence,  incident  to  your  daily  occu- 
pation. If,  once  or  twice  in  the  week,  you  can 
turn  your  ear  away  from  the  din  of  the  world,  to 
the  voice  of  prayer  or  of  Christian  instruction,  it 
will  serve  to  keep  in  more  vigorous  exercise  your 
sense  of  Christian  responsibility ;  it  will  divest 
worldly  care,  in  a  great  measure,  of  its  ensnaring 
influence,  and  will  impart  to  your  general  charac- 
ter a  consistency  and  efficiency  which,  under  other 
circumstances,  it  would  be  little  likely  to  exhibit. 
6 


62  MONITORY   LETTERS 

I  hardly  need  add,  that  those  with  ■whom  you 
are  associated  in  Christian  fellowship  are  far  from 
being  indifferent  to  your  course  on  this  subject. 
They  have  a  right  to  expect  that  you  will  be  a 
fellow-worker  with  them  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
When  they  meet  together  to  hear  God's  word,  or 
to  pray  for  a  divine  influence  upon  themselves  or 
others,  they  look  round  for  you,  and  the  fact  that 
they  never  see  you  there,  is  a  perpetual  burden 
upon  their  spirits.  Even  though  you  may  not 
value  the  privilege  as  they  do,  yet  is  there  not 
something  due  to  the  relation  you  sustain  to  them 
as  a  brother  in  Christ  ?  Would  it  not  minister  to 
your  own  enjoyment  to  reflect  that  you  were  con- 
tributing to  encourage  and  strengthen  others  in 
that  habit  of  devotion  and  spirituality  in  which 
are  bound  up,  in  so  great  a  degree,  both  the  Chris- 
tian's comfort  and  usefulness  ? 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  63 


LETTER    IX. 

TO    ONE    WHO    FREQUENTS    FASHIONABLE    PARTIES. 

I  REMEMBER  tlie  time  when  you  first  publicly 
entered  into  covenant  with  God.  In  the  conver- 
sation which  I  had  with  you,  previous  to  that 
important  step,  you  stated  to  me  that  it  was  your 
fii*m  pm-pose  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the 
gay  world.  You  said  that  you  had  wasted  time 
enough  already  in  scenes  of  frivolity,  and  that 
whatever  of  life  remained  to  you,  you  intended 
to  spend  in  a  more  rational  and  sober  way.  I 
did  not  doubt  that  you  were  sincere  in  all  that 
you  said,  nor  do  I  doubt  it  now.  Nevertheless, 
you  cannot  but  be  aware  that  a  great  change  has 
come  over  you.  Notwithstanding  your  strong 
resolution  to  the  contrary,  you  have  actually 
plunged  into  the  gaieties  of  life,  and  your  relish 
for  worldly  pleasure  seems  to  have  revived  in  all 
its  strength.  You  have  become  just  what  you  once 
resolved  you  never  would  become — a  gay  profes- 
sor of  religion.  I  hear  of  you  in  scenes  of  fash- 
ionable amusement,  and  in  the  great  gatherings 
that  take  place  for  the  waste  of  time,  and  for 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  prostration,  as 


64  MONITORY   LETTERS 

frequently  as  I  hear  of  any  who  do  not  profess 
to  be  living  for  any  object  apart  from  the  present 
world. 

I  beg  to  say,  at  the  outset,  that  I  am  not  at  all 
unfriendly  to  a  free,  and,  if  you  please,  extended 
social  intercourse,  provided  it  be  conducted  on 
principles  which  Christianity  does  not  disown, 
and  which  do  not  tend  to  results  that  jeopard 
the  interests  of  vital  and  practical  religion.  I 
can  see  no  reason  w^hy  there  may  not  be  a  con- 
siderable gathering  of  friends,  for  general  and 
cheerful  intercourse,  and  everything  connected 
with  it  be  conducted  in  such  a  manner,  that  each 
shall  go  away  feeling  that  he  has  been  not  only 
innocently,  but  profitably  employed.  There  is 
something  in  the  interchange  of  kind  affections 
and  expressions  of  good  will,  in  looking  upon 
cheerful  faces,  and  conversing  upon  the  topics  of 
the  day,  that  is  fitted  to  relieve  from  the  tedium 
of  care,  and  invigorate  both  the  physical  and  in- 
tellectual system.  And  even  though  religion 
should  not  come  up  as  a  distinct  subject  of  con- 
versation, still  the  moral  and  spiritual  man  re- 
ceives benefit  rather  than  sustains  injury  ;  for  the 
general  quickening  impulse  that  is  communicated 
both  to  the  body  and  to  the  mind,  reaches  also 
to  the  heart,  inasmuch  as  the  occasion  itself  sup- 
plies fresh  materials  to  the  spirit  of  devout  grati- 
tude.    When  I  see  a  Christian  disposed  to  iivo 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  65 

tlie  life  of  a  recluse,  never  venturing  a  step  into 
the  world,  lest  he  should  go  a  step  too  far,  I  al- 
ways feel  that,  however  praiseworthy  may  be  his 
motives,  he  is  actually  dishonouring  his  mission 
as  a  friend  of  Christ.  He  is  really  declining  an 
important  field  of  usefulness  ;  for  if  he  refuses 
all  contact  with  his  neighbours,  except  as  he  is 
obliged  to  meet  them  on  business,  or  as  he  ap- 
proaches them  directly  in  regard  to  their  higher 
interest,  he  can  have  little  hope  of  benefitting 
them  even  by  his  most  faithful  and  earnest  efi'orts. 
I  trust  I  have  said  enough  to  satisfy  you  that  I 
would  not,  either  by  precept  or  example,  oppose 
any  obstacle  to  a  well  regulated  social  intercourse. 
But  you  cannot  but  be  aware  that  such  meet- 
ings as  I  have  now  referred  to  are  something  quite 
difi'erent  from  the  fashionable  parties  of  the  pre- 
sent day.  My  first  objection  to  these  is,  that  they 
involve  enormous  expense ;  and  not  unfrequently 
the  amount  expended  would  be  enough  to  sustain 
0  Christian  missionary  a  whole  year;  and  at  a 
period  when  the  fields  are  already  white  to  the 
harvest,  as  they  are  at  the  present  day,  I  cannot 
but  think  that  this  consideration  must  weigh 
heavily  upon  every  enlightened  Christian  con- 
science. Then  the  lateness  of  the  hour  is  an  ob- 
jection. You  are  not  allowed  to  go  until  the  legiti- 
mate hour  has  come  for  going  to  rest ;  and  if  you 
are  at  home  by  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
6* 


66  MONITORY   LETTERS 

nobody  thinks  of  accusing  you  of  having  kept  late 
hours.  And  how  has  the  intervening  period  been 
spent  ?  Why,  in  a  scene  that  resembled  Bedlam 
more  than  anything  else.  Two  or  three  hundred 
voices  commingle  like  the  sound  of  many  waters, 
and  it  is  with  difficulty  that  you  can  distinguish 
even  your  own.  You  look  round  for  a  resting- 
place,  but  there  is  none — there  is  no  chair  to 
tempt  you  to  so  vulgar  a  thing  as  sitting  down. 
You  would  like  to  exercise  by  walking — possibly 
you  may  have  the  chance  ;  but  possibly  you  may 
not ;  possibly  there  is  not  a  spot,  except  in  the 
apartment  where  the  dancing  is  going  on,  in 
which  you  could  move  voluntarily  either  forward 
or  backward.  You  would  like,  at  least,  to  have 
the  privilege  of  standing  still ;  but,  alas  !  there  is 
a  pressure  on  every  side  of  you  that  you  strive  in 
vain  to  resist ;  and  it  would  not  be  strange  if  you 
should  sometimes  be  raised  upward  and  borne  on- 
ward, despite  of  all  your  powers  of  moral  agency. 
The  time  comes  for  the  entertainment — it  is  lux- 
urious and  splendid,  and  it  has  been  the  work  of 
days  to  prepare  it ;  but  you  can  scarcely  use  your 
hands  any  more  than  if  you  were  manacled ;  and 
you  may  congratulate  yourself  if  some  unfortunate 
dish  is  not  upset  upon  your  yet  more  unfortunate 
dress.  The  hour  at  length  arrives  when  you  may 
retire  ;  and  you  go  away  with  your  animal  sys- 
tem completely  exhausted,  and  without  having  ac- 


TO   CHURCH  MEMBEKS.  6T 

corapllshed  one  of  the  legitimate  purposes  of  so- 
cial intercourse.  Instead  of  having  your  spirits 
recruited  and  your  faculties  invigorated  for  the 
appropriate  duties  of  the  next  day,  the  morning 
finds  you  with  your  energies  all  relaxed  ;  and  if 
you  awake,  it  is  perhaps  only  to  resolve  that  the 
day  shall  pay  back  to  you  the  repose  of  which 
the  night  has  robbed  you.  You  do  not  expect  to 
be  fit  for  much  service  of  any  kind  the  next  day. 
It  is  a  sufiicient  excuse  for  your  declining  any 
serious  demand  that  is  made  upon  your  faculties, 
that  you  were  out  nearly  all  the  preceding  night 
at  a  party. 

Now,  there  are  two  views  to  be  taken  of  this 
matter,  either  of  which,  it  seems  to  me,  must  at 
least  embarrass  an  enlightened  and  wakeful  con- 
science— I  refer  to  its  influence  upon  yourself, 
and  its  influence  upon  others.  The  fact  that  you 
can  allow  yourself  to  mingle  in  such  scenes,  would 
indeed  seem  to  show  that  you  have  already  de- 
clined greatly  in  the  spirit  of  religion,  if  you  have 
not  actually  surrendered  8,11  claim  to  Christian 
character.  But  as  I  take  for  granted  you  still 
intend  to  hold  fast  to  the  form  of  a  Christian  pro- 
fession, let  me  ask  whether  you  are  not  conscious 
yourself  that  the  spirit  of  worldliness  is  con- 
stantly gaining  ascendency  over  you  ;  and  that 
your  religious  enjoyment  and  general  Christian 
activity  and  circumspection   are  proportionably 


68  MONITORY   LETTERS 

on  the  wane.     Do  you   not  sometimes,  at  least, 
have  to  listen  to  the  remonstrances  of  your  con- 
science ?     When  you  have  come  back  from  one  of 
these  scenes  of  midnight  dissipation,  and  have  at- 
tempted to  go  through  the  form  of  devotion,  be- 
fore closing  your  eyes  in  sleep,  have  you  not  felt 
that  you  were  poorly  prepared  for  any  such  exer- 
cise ?  and  have  you  not,  sometimes,  felt  the  sting 
of  remorse  so  keenly  that  you  could  not  com- 
mand your  accustomed  repose  ?    Do  you  not  have 
seasons  when  you  look  back  with  pain  to  the  time, 
when  both  your  principles  and  your  feelings  kept 
you  away  from  these   scenes  of  gaiety  ?  and  do 
you  not  reckon  the  period  at  which  you  entered 
them  as  marking  a  sad  epoch  in  your  religious 
life  ?     What  have  you  to  expect,  if  you  continue 
in  this  course,  but  that  you  will  depart  farther 
and  farther  from  the  spirit  and  example  of  Christ, 
from  the  line  of  your  duty  as  a  disciple  of  Christ, 
and  will  arm  conscience  with  bitter  accusations  to 
urge  against  you,  on  your  passage  into  eternity  ? 
But  your  conduct,  in  this  respect,  has  an  im- 
portant bearing  upon  others.     You  are  the  head 
of  a  family ;  and  how  could  you  more  distinctly 
tell  your  children,  whom  you  have  dedicated  to 
God,  that  they  need  not  look  beyond  the  world 
for  enjoyment,  than  you  do  by  thus   conforming 
to  the  world  yourself?     You  contribute  greatly 
to  encourage  and  strengthen  other  worldly  pro- 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  69 

fessors,  -who  fall  into  the  same  course ;  and  while 
you  are  looking  at  their  example  as  a  justification 
of  yourself,  they  are  turning  your  example  to  ac- 
count in  a  similar  way.  And  then  there  are  others 
associated  with  you  in  Christian  fellowship,  who 
witness,  or  rather  hear  of,  your  delinquency  with 
the  bitterest  regret — they  feel  that  you  are  in- 
flicting a  deep  wound  upon  that  cause  to  which 
you  are  professedly  devoted — they  look  upon  you 
as  opposing  their  own  good  influence,  rather  than 
helping  it — as  exerting  yourself  in  aid  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  rather  than  of  the  kingdom 
of  light ;  and  they  often,  in  anguish  of  spirit,  re- 
member you  upon  their  knees,  when  none  but  the 
all-seeing  eye  beholds  them.  And  last,  though 
not  least,  you  hereby  make  yourself  a  stumbling 
block  to  the  world.  They  look  exultingly  on  and 
see  you  forgetting  your  Christian  obligations,  and 
plunging  into  their  own  amusements ;  for  though 
they  are  trumpet-tongued,  to  proclaim  your  incon- 
sistency, they  are  glad  to  take  shelter  under  the 
wing  of  your  example.  More  than  once  have  I 
been  told,  by  an  anxious  sinner  who  has  come  to 
me  for  counsel,  that  he  had,  at  some  previous 
time,  been  afi*ected  in  a  similar  way,  and  that  aw- 
ful apprehensions  of  the  future  had  sometimes 
come  over  his  mind,  even  in  the  haunts  of  worldly 
vanity ;  but  that  when  he  looked  round,  and  saw 
one  and  another  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  s<># 


70  MONITORY   LETTERS 

at  the  communion  table,  apparently  enjoying  the 
scene  with  as  keen  a  relish  as  any  others,  he  found 
little  difficulty  In  putting  his  gloomy  foreboding? 
to  flight,  and  settling  down  again  in  his  accus- 
tomed carelessness. 

But  you  tell  me  that,  unless  you  mingle  in  the 
fashionable  parties  of  the  day,  you  must  neces- 
sarily exclude  yourself  from  society ;  as  this  is 
at  present  almost  the  only  mode  in  which  social 
intercourse,  especially  in  the  higher  circles,  Is 
kept  up.  But  if  you  are  satisfied  that  it  is  wrong, 
as  I  think  you  must  be,  upon  sober  reflection,  then 
you  are  bound  to  avoid  it,  even  at  the  expense  of 
being  singular ;  for  you  remember  upon  what  au- 
thority it  is  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  follow  the  mul- 
titude to  do  evil."  If  all  are  going  wrong,  there 
never  will  be  a  reformation,  unless  somebody  has 
the  courage  to  stand  alone  in  doing  right;  and 
why  should  not  you  occupy  this  noble  ground  as 
well  as  any  other  person  ?  If  you  will  only  take 
the  stand,  you  may  find  many  more  than  you 
have  dreamed  of,  who  will  be  ready  to  second 
you ;  and  thus  you  may  take  the  lead  in  a  reform 
in  social  intercourse,  and  it  may  be  carried  for- 
ward much  more  easily  than  you  imagine.  But 
the  state  of  things,  after  all,  is  by  no  means  what 
the  objection  supposes.  There  are  many  Chris- 
tians— I  may  say,  all  the  truly  spiritual  members 
of  the  Church — who  would   cordially  join  with 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  71 

you  in  a  move  quiet  and  reasonable  mode  of  visit- 
ing ;  and  perhaps,  if  you  had  been  more  familiar 
with  the  course  of  this  class  of  your  fellow- Chris- 
tians, you  would  have  felt  that  there  is  much  less 
ground  for  the  objection  than  you  now  suppose. 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  impossible  to  lay  down 
very  definite  rules  on  this  subject,  and  that  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  bring  every  case,  inde- 
pendently of  peculiar  circumstances,  to  precisely 
the  same  standard.  But  if  you  honestly  believe 
that  any  party  to  which  you  are  invited  is  likely, 
on  the  whole,  to  exert  an  injurious  influence  upon 
yourself,  or  upon  other  professors,  or  upon  non- 
professors,  you  cannot,  I  think,  doubt  that  it  is 
your  duty  to  decline  it.  Accustom  yourself  to 
acknowledge  God  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  every 
other,  and  if  you  can  intelligently  and  consci- 
entiously ask  his  blessing  upon  any  scene  of 
amusement  in  which  you  are  asked  to  mingle,  you 
will  probably  hazard  little  in  accepting  the  invi- 
tation. 


72  MONITORY   LETTERS 


LETTER   X 

TO   ONE    WHO    COMPLAINS    OP   THE   WANT    OP    INTELLKCTUAL 
PREACHING. 

In  various  conversations  that  I  have  had  with 
you,  I  have  noticed,  not  without  much  concern, 
the  manner  in  which  you  speak  of  the  public  ser- 
vices of  most  of  the  clergymen  whose  ministry 
you  attend.  You  scarcely  ever  speak  of  a  sermon 
in  any  other  than  a  disrespectful  tone.  I  do  not 
hear  you  complain  of  any  lack  of  evangelical  truth, 
or  of  any  want  of  simplicity,  perspicuity,  or  di- 
rectness, in  the  manner  of  exhibiting  it ;  but  you 
are  accustomed  to  speak  of  almost  every  sermon  as 
tame  and  common-place  ;  and  when  you  happen  to 
hear  one  of  an  abstract  and  philosophical  char- 
acter, you  have  no  language  in  which  to  express 
your  admiration  of  it ;  you  say  that  is  the  preach- 
ing for  you — it  is  something  to  set  the  mind  to 
work;  and  one  such  sermon  is  worth  more  to  you 
than  scores  of  those  you  commonly  hear.  You 
must  allow  me  to  say  that  I  think  you  have  fallen 
into  a  serious  error  on  this  subject,  and  I  trust 
you  will  pardon  a  little  plain  dealing  in  respect 
to  it. 


TO    CTTUTlCn    MEMBET^S.  73 

But  first  of  all,  let  me  saj,  that  I  am  far 
enough  from  being  an  advocate  for  what  may 
reasonably  be  called  superficial  preaching.  The 
gospel  is  a  great  mine  of  religious  truth  ;  and  that 
preacher  who  should  be  satisfied  always  to  skim, 
and  never  to  dig — who  should  feel  that  in  dealing 
out  a  few  threadbare  common-places,  he  was 
rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth,  would  never 
either  come  up  to  the  spirit  of  his  commission,  or 
satisfy  an  intelligent  Christian  audience.  I  care 
not  how  much  truth — even  profound  truth — a 
minister  may  bring  out  in  his  discourses,  provided 
it  be  legitimately  deduced  from  the  written  word 
— what  I  object  to,  but  what  I  understand  you 
to  approve  is,  the  substitution  of  a  dreamy  phi- 
losophical speculation  for  real  Scripture  verities 
— a  splendid  mist,  upon  which  only  a  little  sun- 
light has  fallen,  for  the  clear  and  full  shining  of 
divine  revelation. 

I  am  going  to  make  a  remark  for  which,  if  it 
seems  severe,  you  must  forgive  me ;  for  my  con- 
viction of  its  importance  to  you  is  so  strong,  that 
I  cannot  withhold  it.  It  is,  that  you  do  not  your- 
self more  than  half  understand  what  you  pro- 
fess so  highly  to  admire.  I  certainly  give  you 
credit  for  at  least  the  ordinary  measure  of  capa- 
city and  intelligence ;  but  when  I  have  seen  you 
go  off  into  an  ecstacy  about  a  sermon,  which  men 
of  the  most  gifted  and  cultivated  minds  who  heard 


74  MONITOPtY   LETTERS 

it,  have  pronounced  quite  unintelligible,  I  have 
shrewdly  suspected  that  you  would  find  yourself 
in  an  awkward  attitude,  if  you  should  be  called 
upon — I  will  not  say  to  give  an  outline — but  even 
to  tell  what  had  been  the  subject  of  the  discourse. 
There  are  one  or  two  preachers,  of  whose  praise, 
I  observe,  you  never  grow  weary,  whose  ser- 
mons are  so  splendidly  obscure  that  there  would 
be  little  danger  in  their  preaching  positive  error  ; 
for  I  know  very  few  people  who  even  profess  to 
understand  them. 

If  I  should  attempt  to  trace  this  infirmity 
of  yours — for  that  surely  is  the  least  severe  epi- 
thet I  can  apply  to  it — to  its  true  source,  I  am 
afraid  that  I  should  have  to  refer  it  to  an  over- 
weening vanity,  of  which,  possibly,  you  have  not 
suspected  yourself  to  be  the  subject.  To  demand 
and  to  relish  a  highly  intellectual  preacher,  seems 
to  be  an  indication  of  a  highly  intellectual  taste — 
it  seems  to  say  that  however  a  plain  Gospel  ser- 
mon may  do  for  the  mass  of  hearers,  yet  you, 
with  faculties  of  a  higher  order,  aspire  to  some- 
thing not  exactly  within  the  reach  of  the  com- 
mon mind.  I  leave  you  to  judge  whether  this 
does  not  point  to  a  trait  of  character  that  needs 
to  be  corrected. 

But  this  habit,  besides  having  its  origin  in 
thinking  more  highly  of  yourself  than  you  ought 
to  think,  allow  me  to  say,  is  most  adverse  to  a 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  75 

proper  improvement  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel. What  is  the  great  end  of  the  Christian 
ministry  ?  Nothing  else  than  to  persuade  men  to 
be  reconciled  to  God,  and  to  build  up  believers  in 
the  most  holy  faith.  And  in  order  to  accomplish 
these  objects,  God's  truth  must  be  presented  in 
its  naked  simplicity ;  for  in  no  other  way  does  it 
operate,  either  as  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  or  as 
the  aliment  of  the  renewed  nature.  But  such 
preaching  as  you  like  best,  could  never  produce 
any  such  effect  as  this.  Admitting  even  that  it 
was  nothing  but  what  should  be  philosophically 
true,  and  nothing  but  what  you  were  able  to  grasp, 
still,  it  would  not  be  the  kind  of  truth  which 
would  be  fitted  to  act  upon  your  heart  and  con- 
science. If  it  made  you  a  keener  metaphysician, 
it  would  not  make  you  a  better  Christian.  I  will 
venture  even  to  refer  to  your  own  experience  on 
the  subject,  and  to  inquire  whether  you  do  not 
feel  conscious  that  those  very  sermons  which  you 
have  applauded  most  highly,  for  the  profound 
thought  which  they  have  embodied,  have  done 
nothing  to  quicken  your  moral  sensibilities,  and 
have  supplied  no  new  motives  to  a  life  of  holiness. 
It  is  a  great  privilege  to  have  the  Gospel  preached 
to  you ;  and  if,  instead  of  accepting  it  in  its  sim- 
plicity and  purity,  you  are  for  ever  calling  for 
something  that  lies  beyond  the  bounds  of  Gospel 
truth,  in  the  region  of  metaphysical  speculation, 


76  MONITORY   LETTERS 

you  do  nothing  better  than  starve  your  own  soul. 
The  principle  of  spiritual  life  disdains  such  sup- 
port as  this.  It  can  be  sustained  and  advanced  by 
God's  living  truth,  and  nothing  else. 

There  is  another  thing  which  you  are  bound  to 
consider.  Admitting  that  you  do  not  overrate 
your  own  intellectual  capacity,  you  cannot  but  be 
sensible  that  the  kind  of  preaching  that  you  call 
for,  would  be  utterly  beyond  the  comprehension 
of  the  great  mass  of  hearers.  If  you  speak  to 
an  individual,  your  object  and  your  expectation 
is  that  he  should  not  only  hear,  but  understand 
you,  and  if  you  fail  of  this,  you  might  as  well 
have  said  nothing.  The  same  remark  applies  to 
the  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  He  is  addressing  a 
congregation  on  the  most  important  of  all  sub- 
jects ;  and  in  order  that  he  may  profit  them,  he 
must  speak  to  their  comprehension.  Be  it  so 
that  you  and  half  a  dozen  others  could  under- 
stand and  appreciate  abstract  reasonings,  involv- 
ing the  remoter  relations  of  things ;  yet  so  long 
as  nearly  all  his  hearers  could  not,  would  it  be 
either  wise  or  benevolent  that  he  should  sacri- 
fice the  edification  and  profit  of  the  mass,  to 
the  gratification  of  so  small  a  minority?  Is  he 
not  rather  bound  to  speak  to  the  common  intelli- 
gence, and  for  the  common  benefit  ?  especially  as 
it  is  one  glorious  characteristic  of  the  true  Gospel 
that  it  adapts  itself,  in  the  very  same  provision, 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  77. 

to  the  humblest  and  the  loftiest  capacity  alike.  I 
have  heard  some  of  the  most  intellectual  men 
whom  I  ever  knew,  express  their  earnest  disap- 
probation of  bringing  philosophical  speculations 
into  the  pulpit,  on  the  ground,  first,  that  they 
■were  something  distinct  from  evangelical  truth ; 
and  next,  that  they  were  something  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  common  mind.  It  is  a  striking  fact 
that  the  great  Edwards,  than  whom,  perhaps,  no 
individual  has  shown  higher  powers  of  abstract 
ratiocination,  has  never  given  a  sentence  to  the 
world  in  any  of  his  sermons,  which  a  person  of 
good  common  sense  could  not  easily  take  up  and 
apply. 

Let  me  say  one  word  here  in  behalf  of  minis- 
ters. You  cannot  but  see  that  if  there  were  no 
other  difficulty  in  the  way,  it  would  be  utterly  im- 
possible that  they  should  meet  the  demand  you 
make  upon  them,  but  at  the  expense  of  rendering 
themselves  comparatively  useless  to  much  the 
larger  portion  of  their  hearers.  At  the  same  time 
you,  and  others  who  join  with  you,  expose  them, 
in  many  cases,  to  strong  temptation ;  their  desire 
to  gratify  you  may  lead  them  too  far,  and  I  think  I 
have  known  some  instances  in  which  it  has  led  to 
the  formation  of  a  habit  that  has  proved  greatly 
adverse  to  the  general  good  effect  of  their  preach- 
ing. Whether  you  regard  their  comfort  and  use- 
fiilness,  or  your  own  edification,  or  the  benefit  of 
7* 


78  MONITORY  LETTERS 

the  great  mass  who  are  associated  with  you 
in  the  enjoyment  of  Christian  privileges,  let 
me  counsel  you  to  encourage,  in  every  way  you 
can,  the  preaching  of  the  simple  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus. 


TO   CHUECH    MEMBERS.  79 


LETTER    XI, 


TO   ONE   OP   A   PENURIOUS    SPIRIT. 


There  is  no  doubt  that  economy,  when  prac- 
tised on  right  principles,  and  with  right  motives, 
is  to  be  considered  a  Christian  virtue  ;  but  where 
it  degenerates  into  parsimony,  as  it  too  often  does  ; 
where  a  calculating  spirit  freezes  the  heart,  and 
clenches  the  hand,  and  exhibits  man  as  a  mere 
embodiment  of  selfishness,  it  w^orks  evil  to  every 
interest  that  it  touches.  Where  anything  like 
this  is  witnessed  in  a  professor  of  religion,  it  is 
alike  disastrous  to  his  character  and  his  useful- 
ness. 

It  is  matter  of  great  grief  to  me,  in  common  with 
many  of  your  Christian  friends,  that  you  are 
thought  to  be  not  altogether  free  from  this  un- 
hallowed spirit.  I  do  not  pretend  to  speak  from 
what  I  have  seen,  so  much  as  from  what  I  have 
heard ;  but  unless  great  injustice  is  done  you,  in 
the  estimate  that  is  formed  of  your  character  by 
some  who  have  the  best  opportunity  of  knowing, 
you  are  vulnerable  here  at  several  different  points. 

If  I  am  correctly  informed,  you  have  not  shown 
yourself  ready  to  bear  your  proportion  in  sustain- 


80  MONITORY   LETTERS 

ing  the  institutions  of  religion  in  the  Church  with 
which  you  are  immediately  connected.  You  do 
not  wish  to  have  the  means  of  grace  in  any  de- 
gree diminished ;  you  do  not  complain  that  your 
minister  is  not  sufficiently  attentive  to  his  duties, 
or  even  that  the  salary  which  he  receives  is  more 
than  an  adequate  support ;  but  still  you  are  not 
willing  to  bear  your  part  of  the  pecuniary  bur- 
den ;  and  when  you  are  applied  to  on  the  subject, 
you  sometimes  evince  a  degree  of  impatience  and 
restlessness,  that  is  as  unbecoming  yourself  as  it 
is  painful  to  others.  But  herein  you  offend — I 
will  not  say,  against  charity,  but  against  simple 
justice.  You  enjoy  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  the  benefit  of  your  minister's  labours 
in  other  respects,  as  a  member  of  a  religious  so- 
ciety ;  and  you  are  bound  to  share  your  propor- 
tion of  the  expense,  just  as  truly  as  you  are  bound 
to  pay  for  anything  that  you  bargain  for  in  your 
private  capacity.  Remember  that  the  man  who 
comes  to  ask  for  your  aid  in  this  matter  does  not 
come  to  ask  a  favour  of  you — it  is  simply  that 
you  should  pay  your  equitable  dues  ;  and  what 
they  are,  it  can  be  no  difficult  matter  for  you  to 
decide,  if  you  will  look  honestly  and  impartially 
at  the  data  within  your  reach.  And  let  me  say 
that,  in  refusing  this  demand  that  is  made  upon 
you,  you  place  your  Christian  character  in  a  most 
undesirable  light  before  the  world.     You   give 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  81 

just  occasion  to  the  world  to  question  your  integ- 
rity ;  and  you  may  be  assured  that  they  do  ques- 
tion it,  though  they  may  never  do  it  to  your  face. 
Perhaps  T  shall  surprise  you  when  I  tell  you  that 
1  have  actually  heard  men,  who  make  not  the 
smallest  pretension  to  religion  themselves,  refer 
to  your  case  as  a  proof  of  the  little  influence 
that  religion  exercises  over  its  professors ;  and  I 
have  even  heard  them  say,  sneeringly,  that  they 
were  giving  their  money  to  secure  the  ordinances 
of  the  Gospel  to  a  professing  Christian,  whose 
contribution  was  a  mere  pittance,  though  he  was 
quite  as  able  to  contribute  as  themselves. 

I  hear  it  said,  also,  that  you  minister  with  a 
very  sparing  hand  to  the  great  objects  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence.  A  feeble  Church  applies  to 
you  for  aid  in  securing  to  itself  the  benefit  of 
Christian  ordinances,  and  you  coolly  answer  that 
you  have  as  much  as  you  can  do  to  sustain  the 
Gospel  at  home.  You  are  asked  to  help  the  cause 
of  Foreign  Missions,  and  it  turns  out  that  all  your 
sympathies  are  with  Domestic  Missions,  and  you 
can  see  no  reason  for  going  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth  in  pursuit  of  heathen,  when  they  abound  at 
our  own  doors.  The  Bible  Society  makes  its 
claim  upon  you,  but  everybody  gives  for  that ; 
and  what  you  have  to  bestow  you  choose  to  re- 
serve for  some  less  popular  object.  The  cause 
of  education  comes  along,  and  you  set  that  aside, 


82  MONITORY   LETTERS 

on  tlie  ground  that  there  are  hundreds  of  minis- 
ters who  are  unemployed  ;  or  else  that  they  make 
the  best  ministers  who  are  educated  by  their  own 
unassisted  efforts.  Even  the  half-starved  beggar, 
who  stops  at  your  door,  if  he  happens  to  meet 
you,  soon  learns,  by  your  repulsive  manner,  that 
he  must  go  farther  before  he  can  expect  his  wants 
to  be  supplied.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  you 
give  absolutely  nothing  to  these  or  other  kindred 
objects  ;  but  I  mean  to  say  that  your  contributions 
are,  at  best,  miserably  stinted;  and  that  what 
you  do  give  does  not  seem  to  have  that  most  de- 
sirable accompaniment — a  willing  mind. 

Here,  again,  you  may  rest  assured  that  your 
conduct  is  quite  unworthy  of  your  profession. 
You  are  not,  indeed,  required  to  give  what  you 
do  not  possess  ;  you  are  not  required  to  give  to 
others  that  which  is  necessary  to  the  support  of 
your  own  family ;  but  you  are  bound,  by  every 
Christian  obligation,  to  help  the  cause  of  God, 
the  cause  of  humanity,  by  your  pecuniary  con- 
tributions, according  as  the  Lord  prospers  you ; 
and,  in  refusing  to  meet  this  claim,  you  darken 
your  own  evidences  ;  you  close  against  yourself 
a  legitimate  source  of  Christian  enjoyment ;  you 
diminish  your  influence  with  both  the  Church  and 
the  world,  and  lead  even  bad  men  to  congratulate 
themselves  that  they  are  both  more  liberal  and 
more  exemplary  than  you.    You  may  rest  assured 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  83 

that  every  Christian  interest  pertaining  to  your 
character,  your  comfort,  your  usefulness,  suffers 
in  consequence  of  your  thus  withholding  what 
God  requires  of  you. 

I  must  hint  at  one  thing  more  in  this  connec- 
tion— it  is  that  you  are  charged  with  something 
more  than  exactness — positive  meanness,  in  the  or- 
dinary transactions  of  life.  That  you  may  know 
precisely  what  I  mean,  I  will  say  that  I  heard  of 
your  calling  upon  an  individual  to  whom  you  were 
under  great  obligations  for  important  services  that 
he  had  rendered  you,  to  pay  you  six  pence,  which 
was  your  due,  in  some  pecuniary  transaction 
which  you  had  had  with  him  some  months  before. 
And  even  this  is  not  the  minimum  of  the  small 
things  which  I  have  heard  alleged  against  you. 
I  have  been  informed,  upon  good  authority,  that 
you  went  soberly  to  a  very  respectable  person, 
with  whom  you  had  had  some  dealings  in  the  way 
of  trade,  after  the  circumstance  had  nearly 
faded  from  the  individual's  memory,  and  said : — 
"  Do  you  not  remember  that  there  was  a  cent 
coming  to  me  in  our  settlement  !  I  will  thank 
you  to  pay  me  that  cent."  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
that  if  I  were  disposed,  I  could  add  several  other 
things  as  being  commonly  reported  of  you,  that 
would  not  suffer  in  point  of  smallness  with  those 
which  I  have  mentioned.  Now  let  me  say  that 
you  indulge  this  spirit   at  too  great  an  expense. 


84  MONITORY  LETTERS 

You  are  a  loser,  in  a  mere  worldly  point  of  view  ; 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  you  lose  the  opportunity 
of  honestly  making  a  dollar  or  a  pound  ;  for  when 
you  have  treated  an  individual  in  this  manner 
once,  you  may  be  assured  that  it  must  be  a  case 
of  urgent  necessity,  on  his  part,  that  would  ever 
lead  him  to  consent  to  have  any  further  pecuniary 
dealings  with  you.  And  besides,  a  few  cases  of 
this  kind  will  fix  your  character,  so  that  others 
will  be  equally  shy  of  coming  in  contact  with  you 
in  the  way  of  business.  But  this  is  the  least  of 
the  evils  attending  it — it  greatly  impairs  your 
general  influence  in  the  community — especially  it 
mars  your  Christian  character,  and  renders  you 
comparatively  powerless  in  many  cases,  where 
you  might  otherwise  make  yourself  most  advan- 
tageously felt.  I  am  not  pleading  for  a  lax  way  of 
transacting  business,  nor  for  an  ostentatious  ne- 
glect of  small  matters  ;  for  I  well  know  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  doing  any  kind  of  business 
successfully,  without  attending  to  minute  details  ; 
what  I  object  to  is,  that  extreme  exactness  which 
is  represented  by  the  cases  I  have  referred  to,  and 
which  the  whole  world  would  agree  in  stigmatizing 
as  the  index  of  a  penurious  spirit.  These  things 
might,  indeed,  be  pardoned  if  they  were  not  so 
enth^ely  in  keeping  with  every  thing  else  in  rela- 
tion to  you  which  has  respect  to  money ;  but  even 
if  charity  were  to  dispose  of  them  on  the  ground 


TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  85 

of  your  having  formed  a  habit  of  great  exactness, 
I  fear  that  this  would  not  essentially  relieve  the 
matter,  as  she  woukl  have  other  things  to  account 
for,  concerning  which  no  such  apology  could  be 
admitted. 

I  have  felt  constrained  to  deal  with  you  thus 
plainly,  from  a  conviction  that  you  really  are  not 
aware  what  a  sacrifice  you  are  making  to  this  un- 
worthy spirit.  I  do  not  undertake  to  say  how 
far  its  prevalence  may  consist  with  true  piety ; 
but  I  am  sure  that  your  experience  has  already 
proved  that  it  is  not  consistent  with  the  highest 
degree  of  usefulness,  or  with  the  dignity  that 
should  always  pertain  to  the  Christian  character. 
I  advise  you  to  make  vigorous  efforts,  in  depen- 
dence on  divine  grace,  to  cast  out  this  foul,  mean 
spirit  from  your  bosom. 
8 


86  MONITORY   LETTERS 


LETTER  XII. 


TO   ONE   OF   A   CENSORIOUS   SPIRIT. 


I  HAVE  noticed  in  you,  for  a  considerable  time, 
a  growing  disposition,  which  I  fear  is  becoming  a 
settled  habit,  to  deal  in  undue  severity  with  the 
characters  of  your  fellow  men.  It  is  a  rare  thing 
that  I  hear  you  speak  well  of  any  body.  When- 
ever an  individual  is  mentioned,  and  especially 
w^hen  any  thing  praiseworthy  is  said  of  him,  it 
seems  as  if  your  mind  was  immediately  on  the 
stretch  for  something  of  an  opposite  character ; 
and  if  nothing  of  this  kind  readily  occurs  to  you 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  you  do  not  hesitate  to  indulge 
in  unworthy  and  injurious  conjectures.  If  a  per- 
son has  performed  a  highly  meritorious  action, 
you  attribute  it  to  some  dishonourable  and  selfish 
motive ;  if  he  has  done  something  of  an  equivo- 
cal character,  you  seem  to  delight  to  put  the  worst 
construction  upon  it;  if  he  has  failed,  from  con- 
siderations of  prudence,  to  act  in  difficult  circum- 
stances, you  reproach  him  for  a  timid  or  tempo- 
rizing spirit ;  if  he  takes  a  bold  and  decisive  step 
in  such  circumstances,  you  charge  him  with  rash- 
ness and  recklessness.    In  short,  you  are  for  ever 


TO  cnuRcn  members.  87 

hunting  after  "  dead  flies  in  the  apothecary's 
ointment."  You  seem  not  to  breathe  freely  except 
amidst  the  errors  and  foibles  of  your  fellow  men. 

NowJ  the  most  obvious  thing  to  be  said  of  this 
characteristic  is,  that  it  is  exceedingly  unamiable. 
You  cannot  find  any  body  that  likes  it ;  nor  do 
you  yourself  like  it  in  others,  much  as  you  may 
cherish  and  justify  it  in  yourself.  I  do  not  say 
that  it  is  not  possible  to  possess  it,  and  to  possess 
good  qualities  along  with  it ;  but  let  the  charac- 
ter, in  other  respects,  be  what  it  may — nobody 
will  ever  think  it  amiable — it  will  always  carry 
with  it  an  air  of  repulsion. 

And  while  this  is  not  an  amiable  trait,  neither 
is  it  in  accordance  with  the  precepts  and  genius  of 
Christianity.  The  leading  element  of  the  Gospel  is 
love — its  origin  is  love— its  spirit  is  love — its  end  is 
love.  The  blessed  Saviour,  while  he  was  on  earth, 
though  he  was  a  most  faithful  and  earnest  reprover 
of  sin  in  every  form,  was  yet  a  wonderful  exam- 
ple of  kindness,  and  forbearance,  and  charity. 
The  Apostles  also  evinced  the  same  spirit,  as  well 
in  their  conduct  as  in  their  teachings.  Indeed, 
the  whole  tendency  of  Christianity,  in  both  its 
doctrines  and  precepts,  is  to  lead  us  to  form  the 
most  charitable  judgments  of  our  fellow  men, 
that  truth  and  reason  will  justify ;  and  never  to 
proclaim  our  surmises  to  the  disadvantage  of  an- 
other, when  "we  cannot  be  certain  that  they  are 


88  MONITORY  LETTERS 

well  founded,  and  when,  even  if  they  are,  no  good 
can  result  from  our  publishing  them.  The  great 
rule  which  Christ  has  given  us  for  the  regulation 
of  our  social  conduct  is,  "  Whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  the  same 
to  them."  No  one  wishes  to  be  the  object  of 
perpetual  censure  and  crimination.  No  one  wishes 
to  have  his  actions  misrepresented,  or  his  motives 
arraigned,  by  ungracious  insinuations.  No  one 
wishes,  after  he  has  done  the  best  that  he  is  cap- 
able of  doing,  to  be  looked  coldly  upon,  as  if  he 
were  at  least  worthy  of  suspicion,  if  not  an  ac- 
knowledged malefactor.  In  indulging  in  this 
conduct  towards  another,  then,  you  not  only  vio- 
late a  principle  which  your  own  conscience  must 
recognize  as  a  rule  of  right,  but  you  come  in  con- 
flict with  the  fundamental  principle  of  practical 
Christianity.  You  thus  far  disown  the  authority 
of  the  Master  whom  you  profess  to  serve. 

It  is  not  one  of  the  least  of  the  evils  connected 
with  the  spirit  which  I  am  considering,  that  it 
interferes  greatly  with  your  general  Christian 
influence.  The  most  striking  illustration  of  this 
that  I  remember  to  have  known,  was  in  the  case 
of  an  individual,  long  since  passed  away,  who 
occupied  the  important  position  of  an  elder  in  a 
Presbyterian  Church.  It  was  always  a  matter 
of  surprise  to  me  that  he  should  ever  have  been 
made  an  elder ;  but  as  he  had  been  one  from  the 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  89 

organization  of  the  Churcli,  I  suppose  it  must 
have  been  from  the  paucity  of  materials  out  of 
which  to  form  a  session.     He  had,  naturally,  a 
sarcastic  turn,  and  he  seemed  to  have    trained 
himself,  from  early  life,  to  the  indulgence  of  it. 
He  indulged  it  continually  before  he  came  into 
the  Church,  and.  he  indulged  it  afterwards,  and 
he  never  ceased  to  indulge  it  so  long  as  the  power 
of  speech  remained  to  him.    I  scarcely  ever  heard 
him  render  a  favourable  testimony  concerning  a 
human  being.     If  you  mentioned  an  excellence 
in  any  character,  he  had  always  some  blemish  at 
hand  with  which  to  offset  it ;  or  if  you  mentioned 
a  defect,  he  would  instantly  mention  another,  and 
a  greater,  unless,  indeed,  he  might  choose  to  in- 
dulge his  ruling  passion  by  taking  an  attitude  of 
contradiction  against  yourself.    The  consequence 
was  that  he  really  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  no- 
body.    He  grew  more  and  more  an  Ishmaelite, 
in  both  the  Church  and   civil  society,  until  at 
■  length,  though  he  was  still  an  elder  in  the  Church, 
he  was  really  a  man  by  himself.     Nobody  asked 
his  counsel  in  dijQ&culty ;  nobody  looked  to  him 
for  consolation  in  sorrow  ;  nobody  cared  to  meet 
him  even  on  the  highway.     He  was  naturally  a 
man  of  vigorous  intellect,  and  capable  of  exten- 
sive usefulness  ;  but  his  inveterate  habit  of  sar- 
casm and  crimination  made  him  a  sort  of  terror 
even  to  his  own  friends.     If  this  is  an  extreme 
8* 


90  MONITORY   LETTERS 

case,  as  doubtless  it  is,  yet  it  shows  you  at  least 
what  you  are  in  danger  of;  it  admonishes  you  to 
crucify  this  unhallowed  propensity,  as  you  would 
accomplish  the  great  end  of  a  Christian  profes- 
sion. 

It  is  possible  that  you  may  justify  yourself,  in 
a  censorious  habit,  on  the  ground  that  men's 
characters  are  so  bad  that  truth  and  justice  for- 
bid you  to  speak  well  of  them  ;  and  that  in  your 
honest,  and  what  may  seem  to  others  severe,  ut- 
terances, you  are  only  evincing  a  higher  degree 
of  Christian  fidelity  than  professors  of  religion 
generally  exhibit.  But  herein  I  am  afraid  that 
you  greatly  deceive  yourself.  I  fear  you  are  ac- 
tually making  a  self-righteousness  of  the  indul- 
gence of  a  naturally  bad  temper.  You  may  rest 
assured  that  fidelity  in  dealing  with  the  errors 
and  delinquencies  of  others  is  one  thing — unchari- 
tableness  and  censoriousness  quite  another.  Never 
was  there  such  honesty  and  faithfulness  in  any 
reprover  as  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world ;  and  yet 
never  was  there  such  melting  tenderness.  If  you 
are  really  actuated  by  a  sense  of  Christian  obliga- 
tion in  this  matter,  you  will  administer  reproofs, 
when  you  are  called  to  administer  them,  in  the 
spirit  of  love  ;  you  will  not  needlessly  speak  of  the 
faults  of  others  when  they  are  not  present ;  and 
when  there  exists  a  necessity  for  your  doing  it, 
you  will  still  show  by  your  manner  that  you  are 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  91 

moved  bj  that  charity  that  thinketh  no  evil.  I 
am  constrained  to  say  that  you  have  seemed  to 
me  to  be  actuated  by  a  different  spirit ;  and  some- 
times, when  an  individual  whom  you  have  assailed 
has  been  successfully  vindicated  in  your  presence, 
I  have  thought  it  was  a  source  of  positive  morti- 
fication to  you. 

I  must  not  omit  to  say  that  the  spirit  which  I 
have  been  reprobating  is  sure  to  beget  its  like. 
If  you  allow  yourself  indiscriminately  to  censure 
others,  you  can  calculate  on  nothing  else  than 
that  the  measure  which  you  mete  to  them  will  be 
returned  upon  yourself.  The  peace  of  a  neigh- 
bourhood, the  peace  of  a  Church,  the  peace  of  a 
community,  is  often  sacrificed  to  the  unchristian 
temper,  the  ungoverned  tongue,  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual ;  for  though  many  tongues  may  be  ulti- 
mately employed  in  the  same  way,  yet  there  was 
some  one,  from  which  the  spark  flew,  out  of  which 
has  grown  this  wide  moral  conflagration. 

Let  me  add,  that  you  will  not  be  likely  to  re- 
form in  this  matter,  except  as  the  result  of  great 
watchfulness,  and  persevering,  vigorous  effort. 
You  must  obey  the  inspired  direction,  to  set  a 
watch  at  the  door  of  your  lips.  You  must  re- 
solve never  to  speak  ill  of  any  body,  unless  upon 
grounds  which  you  can  fully  justify  to  an  enlight- 
ened Christian  judgment  and  conscience.  You 
must  bring  yourself  under  the  influence  of  all 


92  MONITORY  LETTERS 

those  considerations,  drawn  from  a  sense  of  your 
own  manifold  imperfections  and  infirmities,  from 
the  precepts  and  example  of  Christ,  and  from 
your  relation  to  the  Church  and  to  society,  which 
are  fitted  to  keep  in  check,  or  rather  to  eradicate, 
this  unchristian  temper.  Above  all,  you  are  ha- 
bitually to  ask  of  God  that  he  will  increase  your 
power  of  resistance  to  this  spiritual  foe  ;  and  you 
are  never  to  relax  in  the  conflict,  until  you  can 
feel  that  it  is  finally  and  for  ever  dislodged. 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  93 


LETTER    XIII. 

TO    ONE    OF  A    SELF-CONFIDENT   AND    UNYIELDING    SPIRIT. 

Every  man  who  is  not  recreant  to  all  his  social 
obligations,  is  entitled,  as  a  member  of  society, 
to  a  certain  degree  of  consideration  and  influence ; 
but  there  are  some  men  who  are  not  satisfied  with 
what  they  can  legitimately  claim  in  this  respect ; 
their  whole  life  seems  to  be  an  unceasing  strug- 
gle to  bring  other  men's  opinions  into  harmony 
with  their  own.  Let  them  be  in  whatever  com- 
pany they  may,  it  is  manifest  that  they  are  aim- 
ing at  superiority.  They  speak  on  every  subject 
with  a  sort  of  oracular  assurance.  If  one  ven- 
tures to  question  the  correctness  of  their  opin- 
ions, even  in  respect  to  matters  of  which  they 
have  had  little  opportunity  to  form  a  judgment, 
he  quickly  finds  that  he  must  be  brow-beaten  into 
silence,  or  else  nerve  himself  to  encounter  a  pro- 
tracted, not  to  say  angry  opposition.  It  happens 
not  unfrequently  that  men  of  this  class  are  confi- 
dent in  proportion  to  their  ignorance,  and  that,  in 
endeavouring  to  carry  a  point  by  storm,  they  re- 
ally expose  themselves  to  ridicule  and  contempt. 

Now  it  will,  perhaps,  surprise  you  to  know  that 


94  MONITORY  LETTERS 

many  of  your  friends  think  that  you  are  vulnera- 
ble, in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  at  this  point ; 
that  you  expect  too  much  deference  from  other 
minds,  not  at  all  inferior  to  your  own ;  in  short, 
that,  like  Diotrephes  of  old,  you  love  to  have  the 
pre-eminence.  They  say  that  you  are  impatient 
whenever  any  of  your  positions  are  questioned ; 
that  you  look  coldly  upon  those  who  cannot  al- 
ways see  with  your  eyes  ;  and  that,  in  some  mat- 
ters of  considerable  practical  moment,  you  have 
refused  to  act  at  all,  because  in  certain  unimpor- 
tant details,  you  were  not  permitted  to  have  your 
own  way.  I  have  too  much  reason  to  believe 
that  the  impression  that  exists  concerning  you  is 
not  exaggerated.  You  must  pardon  me  for  say- 
ing that  I  have  myself  witnessed  that  in  your 
conduct  which  fully  justifies  it. 

The  least  reflection,  I  think,  must  satisfy 
you  that  this  characteristic  does  not  bespeak 
any  exuberance  of  modesty  or  humility.  It  is 
virtually  saying  that  you  have  a  quicker  dis- 
cernment, a  more  mature  judgment,  a  more 
vigorous  or  grasping  intellect,  than  those  with 
whom  you  are  associated  ;  for  if  this  were  not 
so,  why  should  their  opinion  or  will  bend  to 
yours,  rather  than  you  yield  to  them  ?  If  you 
differ  in  opinion  from  others  with  whom  you  are 
called  to  act,  you  have  a  right  indeed  to  say  so,  and 
to  state  the  grounds  of  your  dissent,  and  to  do 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  95 

wbat  you  can  fairly,  In  vindication  of  the  mea- 
sures that  you  prefer  ;  and  more  than  this,  you 
have  a  right,  undoubtedly,  in  obedience  to  the 
honest  dictates  of  your  conscience,  to  refuse  your 
active  co-operation ;  and  all  this  may  be  done 
without  subjecting  yourself  to  the  charge  of  an 
overweening  vanity  ;  but  if  you  are  extremely 
tenacious  upon  small  matters ;  if  you  discover  a 
morbid  sensitiveness  whenever  one  ventures  to 
question  your  judgment  ;  if  you  show  that  you 
would  prefer  to  see  an  important  object  sacrificed 
rather  than  to  have  it  gained  by  a  departure  from 
the  course  which  you  have  marked  out,  then  do 
you  give  the  most  decisive  evidence  that  you  are 
not  minding  that  exhortation  of  the  apostle, 
"Let  not  a  man  think  more  highly  of  himself 
than  he  ought  to  think."  Whatever  may  be 
your  attainments  In  respect  to  other  graces,  you 
may  rest  assured  that  you  are  not  perfected  in 
the  grace  of  humility. 

In  yielding  to  this  temper,  you  oifend  not  only 
against  charity,  but  against  justice.  You  are  not 
satisfied  with  the  measure  of  control  that  really 
belongs  to  you — you  eagerly  aspire  to  something 
more  ;  and  herein  what  better  do  you  show  your- 
self than  a  usurper  ?  Those  with  whom  you  are 
connected,  whether  In  Christian  or  civil  society, 
have  precisely  the  same  rights,  growing  out  of 
their  relationship  to  society,  that  you  have ;  but 


96  MONITORY  LETTERS 

in  your  desire  to  have  the  pre-eminence,  you  In- 
fringe upon  those  rights,  and  forget  the  golden 
rule  of  doing  to  others  as  you  would  that  they 
should  do  to  you.  You  are  abroad  in  the  world 
as  a  sort  of  pirate  ;  you  would  rob  others  of  their 
influence,  and  enrich  yourself  with  the  spoils. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  this  spirit 
is  utterly  at  war  with  the  genius  of  social  happi- 
ness and  improvement — it  works  evil  towards  all 
the  great  interests  of  society.  If  you  have  a 
rio^ht  to  dictate  imperiously  to  your  associates 
and  equals,  they  have  exactly  the  same  right  thus 
to  dictate  to  you;  and  if  they  avail  themselves - 
of  it,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  it  must  be  at  the  ex- 
pense of  perpetual  disquietude  and  wrangling ; 
of  keeping  alive  and  hot  the  coals  of  strife.  But 
the  truth  is,  neither  you  nor  they  have  any  such 
right.  As  members  of  society,  you  are  all  bound 
to  consider  the  common  weal ;  to  live  in  habits  of 
mutual  condescension ;  to  exert  all  the  good  influ- 
ence you  ca.n,  fairly  and  honourably ;  while  you 
are  imperatively  forbidden  to  assume  the  charac- 
ter of  a  dictator,  or  to  overlook  or  undervalue  the 
reasonable  claims  of  others. 

It  deserves  your  particular  consideration,  that 
this  spirit,  which  I  am  condemning,  is  almost  sure 
to  defeat  its  own  ends.  The  man  who  is  not  dis- 
posed to  claim  more  than  fairly  belongs  to  him, 
and  who  chooses  rather  to  remain  in  the  back- 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  97 

ground,  than  to  thrust  himself  forward,  Is  the 
very  man,  provided  he  has  the  requisite  qualifica- 
tions in  other  respects,  whom  the  mass  of  men 
are  most  willing  to  follow ;  whereas,  he  who  is 
disposed  to  take  the  lead,  whether  it  is  conceded 
to  him  or  not — who  can  never  consent  to  be  any- 
thing, unless  he  can  be  everything — will  rarely 
carry  the  more  considerate  and  well  judging  por- 
tion of  the  community  along  with  him.  I  can  think 
of  several  persons,  at  this  moment,  who  have  sunk 
into  deep  obscurity  from  the  very  effort  to  rise 
into  too  bright  a  light — men  who  might  have  been 
respected,  and  honoured,  and  even  exalted  to  high 
places,  had  it  not  been  that  their  insatiable  love 
of  power,  their  ambition  to  be  the  greatest, 
would  not  suffer  them  to  wait  for  the  honest 
judgment  of  society,  or  the  slow  movements  of 
Providence. 

I  have  adverted  to  the  influence  which  this 
spirit  exerts  on  society  in  general ;  let  me  say  that 
it  acts  most  disastrously  on  the  well  being  of  the 
Church.  The  Church  is  a  community  which  has 
interests  to  manage  and  provide  for  that  are  pe- 
culiarly its  own.  It  were  not  to  be  expected,  con- 
sidering the  great  variety  of  intellectual  and  moral 
constitution  among  men,  as  well  as  the  different 
circumstances  under  which  their  characters  are  de- 
veloped— it  were  not  to  be  expected  that  there 
should  be  no  diversity  of  opinion  among  either  the 
9 


98  MONITORY   LETTERS 

officers  or  the  private  members  of  the  Church,  in 
regard  to  the  measures  best  adapted  to  promote 
its  prosperity.  In  respect  to  everything  funda- 
mental, the  Master  has  indeed  spoken  explicitly, 
so  that  there  can  be  no  apology  for  either  disobe- 
dience or  disagreement.  Eut  there  are  many 
matters  of  minor  importance,  in  relation  to  which 
the  teachings  of  Scripture  are  more  general,  and 
the  wisdom  of  the  Church  is  profitable  to  direct. 
And  here  there  is  abundant  scope  for  the  spirit 
of  mutual  forbearance  and  condescension.  But 
alas !  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  the  opposite 
spirit  has  most  frequently  and  most  fatally  dis- 
covered itself.  Diotrephes  is  the  representative 
of  a  mighty  host  in  the  Church,  whose  inordinate 
desire  of  preferment  has  disturbed  its  peace, 
marred  its  purity,  retarded  its  growth,  and  preyed 
upon  its  vital  energies.  Do  what  you  can,  I  pray 
you,  to  discourage  this  spirit;  and  begin  your 
efforts  by  bidding  it  depart  from  your  own  bosom. 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  99 


LETTER  XIV. 

TO    ONE    OF  A    MANAGING   AND    DISINGENUOUS    SPIRIT. 

I  AM  not  at  all  disposed  to  condemn  the  exer- 
cise of  a  due  degree  of  caution,  in  the  intercourse 
which  the  Christian  has  with  society.  Prudence 
is  a  virtue  which  he  cannot  dispense  with,  with- 
out jeoparding  his  comfort,  his  character,  his  use- 
fulness. For  want  of  this,  some  men,  whose  gen- 
eral good  intentions  and  right  feelings  we  cannot 
doubt,  have  seemed  to  pass  through  the  world, 
leaving  it  a  matter  of  question  whether  they  had 
accomplished  more  of  good  or  of  evil.  But  the 
quality  of  which  I  am  about  to  speak,  though  it 
may  sometimes  take  the  name  of  prudence,  has 
really  no  affinity  to  anything  which  Christianity 
recognizes  as  a  virtue.  It  is  identical  with  world- 
ly cunning.  It  loves  darkness  rather  than  light. 
It  hesitates  not  to  take  an  undue  advantage,  even 
of  a  Christian  brother.  It  conceals  daggers  be- 
neath smiles.  It  sometimes  professes  great  frank- 
ness, and  even  glories  in  having  no  purposes  which 
it  is  ashamed  to  avow ;  but  in  making  such  a  pro- 
clamation, it  is  acting  altogether  in  character — it 
is  an  effort  to  blind  the  eyes  of  men,  in  order  that 


100  MONITORY  LETTERS 

it  may  work  to  better  advantage  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  its  unworthy  ends. 

Without  imputing  to  you  this  offensive  quality  in 
the  highest  degree,  I  am  sure  that  I  do  you  no  in- 
justice in  saying  that  you  cannot  claim  an  exemp- 
tion from  it ;  and  the  result  of  my  recent  obser- 
vations upon  your  conduct  has  been  to  satisfy  me, 
that  time  is  doing  nothing  to  render  your  charac- 
ter more  transparent.  You  will  allow  me,  there- 
fore, in  all  friendship,  to  expostulate  with  you  in 
regard  to  this  unfortunate  propensity. 

The  evil  to  which  I  here  refer  is  two-fold — it 
has  respect  to  the  end  which  you  seek  to  accom- 
plish, and  to  the  means  which  you  employ  for  ac- 
complishing it.  You  scruple  not  to  endeavour  to 
subserve  your  own  interest  by  injuring  another ; 
and  need  I  say  that  this  is  a  palpable  contradic- 
tion to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  ?  It  is  seeking 
your  own  advantage,  not  only  above  that  of  an- 
other, but  at  the  expense  of  that  of  another.  It 
involves  criminal  injustice,  as  well  as  gross  selfish- 
ness ;  both  of  which,  Christianity,  in  its  pre- 
cepts and  in  its  spirit,  uniformly  forbids.  The 
religion  which  you  profess,  requires  you  to  love 
your  neighbour  as  yourself;  to  do  evil  to  none, 
and  to  do  good  to  all,  as  you  have  opportunity. 
If  then  you  have  attempted  to  injure  your  neigh- 
bour's property  for  the  sake  of  increasing  your 
own,  or  to  wound  his  good  name  in  the  hope  of 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  101 

gathering  some  fresh  laurels  for  yourself,  or  to 
further  any  of  your  designs  at  the  expense  of  in- 
terfering with  the  just  and  praiseworthy  designs 
of  others,  you  may  rest  assured  that  Christianity 
loudly  reproves  you — it  charges  you  with  being 
false  to  the  sacred  obligations  which  you  have  as- 
sumed— if  it  does  not  pronounce  your  religion 
absolutely  spurious,  it  stamps  it  at  least  with  great 
imperfection  and  gross  contradiction.  "Where 
this  spirit  is  deliberately  and  habitually  cherished, 
it  furnishes  conclusive  evidence  that  you  do  not 
possess  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and,  of  course,  are 
none  of  his  ;  and  where  it  exists  even  as  one  of 
the  remaining  corruptions  of  the  renewed  nature, 
over  which  grace  hath  not  yet  completely  tri- 
umphed, it  is  still  an  oflfence  against  the  benevo- 
lent spirit  of  the  Master  you  profess  to  serve,  and 
may  well  lead  you  to  doubt  whether  the  hope 
which  you  are  keeping  alive  in  your  bosom  is  not 
the  hope  of  the  hypocrite. 

But  it  is  not  merely  that  your  efforts  contem- 
plate an  unworthy  end,  but  they  are  themselves 
characterized  by  a  spirit  of  disingenuousness. 
You  have  a  purpose,  but  you  do  not  avow  it ;  or 
perhaps  you  have  one  purpose  which  occupies 
your  thoughts  night  and  day,  while  yet  you  seem 
to  be  aiming  at  another.  You  have  your  tools  ; 
which,  though  they  breathe  and  speak,  and  seem 
to  be  operating  with  all  due  intelligence,  still 
9* 


102  MONITORY  LETTERS 

move  entirely  at  your  bidding ;  and  it  Is  only  a 
modified  sort  of  moral  agency  that  you  allow  to 
them.  Possibly  your  purpose  is  gained,  while 
the  master  mind  that  has  conceived  and  executed 
it,  has  moved  so  silently,  and  in  such  deep  dark- 
ness, that  its  agency  has  not  even  been  suspected. 
Possibly  the  whole  blame  of  the  transaction  is 
visited  upon  the  poor  instruments,  though  they 
knew  little  what  they  were  doing  until  they  were 
surprised  by  some  strange  result  of  their  own 
efforts. 

It  not  nnfrequently  happens  that  this  spirit  of 
unworthy  management  and  worldly  cunning  mani- 
fests itself  where  there  is  no  evil  end  to  be  accom- 
plished ;  nay,  it  sometimes  appears  where  the 
end  is  positively  a  good  one.  In  some  cases  it 
seems  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  simple  love  of 
management — a  natural  aversion  to  walking  in 
an  open,  beaten  track  ;  and  here  it  would  seem 
to  be  more  closely  allied  to  vanity  than  anything 
else.  I  call  to  mind,  at  this  moment,  a  man  who, 
was  more  remarkable  than  any  other  I  ever  knew, 
for  moving  in  a  mysterious  way  ;  he  was  acknow- 
ledged to  possess  great  talents,  but  was  never 
contented  to  perform  even  the  most  common  ac- 
tions in  the  same  way  with  other  people.  Where 
the  result  to  be  produced  was  necessarily  an  or- 
dinary affair,  it  was  sure  to  be  brought  about  by 
some  extraordinary  instrumentality.     He  was  un- 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  103 

doubtedly  a  person  of  great  natural   sagacity ; 
but,  unhappily,  he  had  acquired,  in  the  commu- 
nity in  Trhich  he  lived,  a  great   reputation  for 
worldly  cunning.     And  the  consequence  was  that 
he  did  everything  at  a  disadvantage.     If  he  had 
really  wished  to  engage  in  any  enterprise,  with- 
out anything  of  management  or  finesse,  the  world 
would  not  have  done  justice  to  his  intentions  ;  he 
would  still  have  had  the  reputation  of  working  in 
his  accustomed  way,  and  not  a  few  would  have 
kept  their  eyes  upon  him  to  see  if  he  was  not 
aiming  at   something  which  he   did   not   avow. 
Where  a  man  of  acknowledged  frankness  and  in- 
tegrity sets  about  any  good  object,  there  are  mul- 
titudes who  are  ready  to  co-operate  with  him,  and 
nobody  thinks  of  questioning  the  sincerity  of  his 
aims ;  but  let  a  man  of  great  reputed  cunning 
avow  Mb  intention  of  bringing  something  to  pass, 
that  may  materially  benefit  the  community,  and 
few  will  be  disposed  to  become  his  efficient  aux- 
iliaries, until  they  have  looked  on  every  side  to 
see  whether  he  may  not  be  enlisting  them,  pro- 
fessedly for  one  purpose,  but  really  for  another. 

Let  me  urge  you  to  beware  of  this  evil,  as  one 
that  must  essentially  vitiate  your  character,  both 
as  a  man  and  a  Christian.  Be  prudent,  indeed  ; 
but  let  not  prudence,  with  you,  ever  degenerate 
into  disingenuous  concealment  or  unfair  dealing. 
You  are  not  always  bound  to  tell  the  whole  truth, 


104  MONITORY  LETTERS 

but  you  are  never  at  liberty  to  practise  deliberate 
deception.  And  where  this  disposition  appears 
in  a  professor  of  religion,  especially  in  connection 
with  some  unworthy  selfish  purpose,  it  is  not  easy 
to  overrate  the  evil  which  it  brings  upon  the 
cause  of  Christ.  How  often  have  I  heard  worldly 
men,  speaking  of  such  professors,  congratulate 
themselves  that,  if  they  were  not  themselves  reli- 
gious, they  were  at  least  honest !  Whatever  there 
is  amiss  on  this  subject  in  your  character,  may 
God  enable  you  to  correct.  See  to  it,  that  the 
ends  at  which  you  aim,  and  the  means  by  which 
you  seek  to  gain  them,  will  both  bear  the  light ; 
and  you  will,  through  grace,  meet  the  reward  of 
such  a  course  of  conduct,  both  on  earth  and  in 
heaven. 


TO   CHUKCH   MEMBERS.  105 


LETTER   XV. 

TO    ONE    OF   AN   IMPATIENT   AND    COMPLAINING   SPIRIT. 

It  is  quite  likely  that  it  has  never  occurred  to 
you  that  you  are  liable  to  the  charge  which  the 
subject  of  this  letter  would  seem  to  imply.  You 
do  not  pretend  to  deny  that  you  are  sometimes 
not  perfectly  satisfied  with  your  lot,  and  you  ask 
me,  perhaps,  to  show  you  one,  if  I  can,  who  never 
finds  fault ;  but  that  you  have  more  than  your  or- 
dinary share  of  this  infirmity,  you  are  in  no  wise 
prepared  to  admit.  Well,  I  have  no  wish  to  prove 
that  yours  is  an  extreme  case ;  nor  do  I  mean  to 
say  that  I  might  not  select  many  other  individ- 
uals, to  whom  my  remarks  would  apply  with 
equal  pertinence  ;  but  still  I  must  insist  that  yours 
is  a  case  of  the  kind  that  I  have  designated ;  and 
the  fact  that  you  share  the  evil  in  common  with 
many  others,  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not 
have  your  attention  seriously  directed  to  it. 

I  will  tell  you  candidly  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  I  think  your  impatient  and  dissatisfied 
spirit  discovers  itself.  I  do  not  suppose  that  you 
ever  allow  yourself  to  think  that  you  arraign  In- 


106  MONITORY   LETTERS 

finite  Wisdom,  or  question  the  propriety  of  any 
of  God's  dealings  with  you ;  but  if  you  will  notice 
particularly  your  own  conduct,  and  scrutinize 
your  feelings  and  motives,  I  think  you  will  find  it 
difficult  to  resist  the  conviction  that  many  of  your 
complaints  terminate,  not  upon  man,  but  upon 
God.  I  have  heard  you  more  than  once  express 
your  disappointment,  in  not  realizing  a  favourite 
plan,  in  terms  that  have  evinced  an  almost  angry 
dissatisfaction,  when  the  disappointment  had  been 
entirely  independent  of  any  voluntary  human 
agency.  You  expected  to  set  out  on  a  journey 
on  a  certain  morning ;  and  when  the  morning 
came,  instead  of  leaving  home,  you  were  so  ill  as 
to  be  obliged  to  send  for  a  physician.  You  took 
the  disappointment  so  much  to  heart  that  your 
countenance  looked  almost  like  what  we  should 
imagine  Cain's  to  have  been,  after  he  slew  his 
brother.  Your  arrangements  for  the  day  ren- 
dered it  desirable  to  you  that  the  weather  should 
be  fine  ;  but  the  rain  came  pouring  in  torrents  ; 
and  you  showed  clearly  enough  by  your  actions, 
that  it  should  not  have  been  so,  if  the  government 
of  the  world  had  been  in  your  hands.  I  have 
heard  you  complain  bitterly  of  your  neighbours, 
so  that  one  might  have  supposed  your  lot  had  been 
cast  in  Sodom  ;  when,  after  all,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  any  one  who  lived  among  human  beings 
would  find  as  much  to  complain  of  as  yourself. 


TO    CIIURCn    MEMBERS.  107 

You  allow  yourself  to  be  unreasonably  irritable 
in  your  own  family,  finding  fault  with  whatever  is 
not  exactly  according  to  your  mind ;  insomuch 
that  some  of  your  guests  have  felt  uneasy  while 
sojourning  under  your  roof.  And  I  must  not 
forget  to  say,  that  when  you  lost  a  child  not  long 
since,  I  could  not  discover,  in  anything  that  fell 
from  you,  the  workings  of  a  spu'it  of  submission  ; 
— on  the  contrary,  when  I  exhorted  you  to  seek  a 
refuge,  in  the  hour  of  your  calamity,  in  God's 
gracious  covenant,  you  answered  me  by  reflecting 
bitterly  upon  some  individual,  who  induced  you  to 
a  course  to  which  you  thought  you  could  refer  indi- 
rectly the  child's  illness  and  death.  Now,  it  is 
upon  such  grounds  as  these  that  I  am  impelled 
to  the  conclusion  that  you  have  fallen  into  a 
habit  of  impatience  that  greatly  needs  to  be  cor- 
rected. 

You  cannot  but  see  that  the  indulgence  of  this 
spirit  is  really  nothing  better  than  rebellion 
against  God.  For  it  is  God  who  orders  the  cir- 
cumstances of  your  earthly  condition ;  and,  in 
complaining  of  them,  you  virtually  express  your 
distrust  of  his  wisdom  and  goodness.  Many  of  the 
inconveniences  and  disappointments  with  which 
you  find  fault,  are  from  the  direct  ordering  of  his 
providence,  without  the  intervention  of  any  other 
visible  agency  ;  and  even  where  there  are  human 
instruments  concerned,  an'd  culpably  concerned, 


108  MONITORY  LETTERS 

Still  God's  hand  is  to  be  acknowledged  in  this,  as 
a  part  of  that  great  and  divinely  arranged  sys- 
tem, which  will  ultimately  secure  the  greatest 
good  to  them  who  love  him.  You  disobey,  you 
rebel,  as  often  as  you  complain.  If  it  be  admit- 
ted that  you  are  a  true  Christian,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  you  indulge  this  spirit,  you  not  only  fail 
to  grow  in  grace,  but  you  counteract  God's  mer- 
ciful purposes  towards  you.  He  designs  that 
these  crosses  should  act  as  a  salutary  discipline 
upon  your  spirit ;  that  they  should  inspire  you 
with  fresh  confidence  in  his  wisdom,  and  grace, 
and  faithfulness,  and  render  the  prospect  of  hea- 
ven more  dear  to  you,  by  giving  you  a  foretaste 
of  its  joys  in  the  midst  of  tribulation.  If  you 
pervert  them  to  a  different  purpose,  where  are 
you  to  look  for  any  evidences,  on  which  you  can 
relv,  of  growth  in  grace  ?  Rather,  what  reason 
have  you  to  believe  that  the  principle  of  grace 
has  ever  been  implanted  in  your  heart  ? 

If  you  have  respect  to  your  own  personal  com- 
fort, you  will  crucify  this  unhallowed  temper,  and 
cultivate  the  opposite  spirit  of  contentment  and 
submission.  So  long  as  your  present  state  of 
mind  continues,  you  can  never  have  anything 
like  true  inward  peace.  While  you  live  in  this 
world,  you  will  always  be  subject  to  vicissitude 
and  disappointment,  and  you  will  be  the  sport  of 
every  adverse  wind  that  blows.    Let  your  earthly 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  109 

condition  be  what  it  may,  you  can  never  know 
anything  like  true  independence  ;  whereas,  if  you 
cultivate  a  spirit  of  quiet  submission  to  the  divine 
will,  the  consequence  will  be  an  all-pervading 
and  habitual,  if  not  an  uninterrupted,  tran- 
quillity. What  has  he  to  fear  whose  heart  is 
stayed  upon  God  ? 

Then,  again,  this  impatient  spirit  prevents  you 
from  enjoying  the  happiness  which  Providence 
intended  should  flow  to  you  through  your  social 
relations.  If  you  accustom  yourself  to  find  fault 
with  your  family,  and  friends,  and  neighbours, 
for  e^rything  they  may  say  or  do  that  does  not 
entirely  correspond  with  your  wishes,  it  is  impos- 
sible that  they  should  take  any  comfort  in  your 
society,  and  they  will  very  soon  cause  you  to  find 
it  out.  And  this  discovery  will  be  a  source  of  an- 
noyance to  you  ;  it  will  beget  increased  jealousy 
and  mortification  on  your  part,  and  this  again 
will  re-act  to  produce,  on  the  part  of  others,  in- 
creasing reserve,  if  not  positive  alienation.  Thus 
you  sacrifice,  in  a  great  measure,  your  social  as 
well  as  your  spiritual  enjoyment.  You  make 
enemies  out  of  friends.  You  fail  to  make  friends 
where  it  is  in  your  power,  and  check  in  many  a 
bosom  the  warm  current  of  benevolent  feeling 
which  would  otherwise  flow  out  towards  you. 

In  professing  to  be  a  Christian,  you  virtually 
acknowledge  your  obligation  to  live  in  the  habit- 
10 


110  MONITORY   LETTERS 

ual  exercise  of  a  benevolent  spirit,  and  to  do  what 
you  can  to  promote  the  happiness  and  ■well-being 
of  your  feilow-men.  But  what  becomes  of  this 
obligation,  so  long  as  you  are  continually  finding 
fault  with  both  God  and  man  ?  In  order  to  ren- 
der those  around  you  happy,  there  must  be  at 
least  a  degree  of  sunshine  in  your  countenance ; 
but,  alas  !  it  is  a  rare  thing  that  the  cloud  of  dis- 
content is  ever  lifted  from  your  brow.  If  you 
will  make  men  happy,  you  must  ordinarily  come 
near  to  them  ;  but  who  does  not  wish  to  have  an 
everlasting  fault-finder  keep  at  a  distance  ?  Most 
of  the  good  that  men  accomplish,  is  done  in  their 
social  capacity;  but  so  long  as  you  complain  of 
every  thing,  I  do  not  know  who  would  not  rather 
do  good  by  himself  than  to  be  associated  with 
you.  And  even  if  you  really  try  to  make  your- 
self, in  some  respects,  useful,  it  seems  to  me  that 
you  have  little  right  to  expect  the  concurring  fa- 
vour of  that  Providence  which  you  so  often  ar- 
raign, indirectly  at  least,  on  the  charge  of  meas- 
uring out  to  you  a  hard  lot. 

Let  me  entreat  you  to  lay  this  subject  to  heart, 
and  endeavour  to  correct  this  unhappy  trait  in 
your  religious  and  social  character.  Get  your 
mind  deeply  imbued  with  a  sense  of  God's  over- 
ruling and  directing  providence,  extending  even 
to  the  numbering  of  hairs  and  the  falling  of  spar- 
rows j    and   accustom   yourself  to  connect    the 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  Ill 

thought  of  perfect  wisdom  and  goodness  with  even 
the  most  trying  events.  Dwell  upon  the  example 
of  Him  whom  you  call  Master  and  Lord ;  and 
mark  the  breathings  of  perfect  submission  and 
trust  in  God,  when  the  great  waters  came  over  his 
soul.  Think  how  much  fewer  afflictions  and 
crosses  you  have  than  you  deserve  ;  and  how  few, 
too,  in  comparison  with  the  number  of  your  bless- 
ings. And  recollect  that  the  sufferings  of  the 
present  are  designed  to  increase  the  glory  of  the 
future  ;  not  merely  through  the  power  of  contrast, 
but  by  forming  the  mind  to  a  higher  type  of  holi- 
ness, and  infusing  into  it  more  of  the  spirit  of 
heaven.  Recollect,  too,  that  the  evils  of  which 
you  are  so  prone  to  complain  are  of  short  continu- 
ance ;  and  that  if  you  endure  them  in  a  spirit  of 
Christian  patience,  it  will  be  but  a  little  while  be- 
fore you  will  have  the  whole  wilderness  behind 
you,  and  will  enter  exultingly  into  that  world, 
where  not  a  thought  shall  miss  its  object,  not  a 
wish  shall  ever  be  disappointed. 


112  MONITORY  LETTERS 


LETTER    XVI. 

TO    ONE    OF    AX   INCONSTANT   AND    FICKLK    SPIRIT. 

You  must  allow  me  to  tell  joii,  in  all  frankness, 
that  you  have  acquired  a  great  reputation,  in 
every  circle  in  which  you  are  known,  for  instabil- 
ity in  religion.  I  do  not  hear  your  general  sin- 
cerity questioned  ;  but  every  body  says,  that  you 
are  as  changeable  as  the  wind.  I  will  not,  how- 
ever, rest  in  any  such  indefinite  charge  ;  but,  that 
you  may  know  definitely  what  I  mean,  I  will  no- 
tice two  or  three  distinct  points,  in  respect  to 
which  your  instability  is  especially  manifest. 
And  I  promise  to  bring  up  nothing  which  I  cannot 
testify  to  from  actual  observation,  or  which  I  have 
not  been  assured  of  by  the  most  unexceptionable 
witnesses. 

Let  me  say,  then,  that  you  have  discovered 
great  instability  in  your  religious  faith.  I  know 
you  were  brought  up  to  a  belief  in  the  Assembly's 
Catechism ;  and  I  suppose  you  do  not  now  pro- 
fess any  difi'erent  system  of  doctrine  from  what 
that  teaches  ;  and  yet  you  have  sometimes  spoken 
of  it  in  a  manner  to  render  it  at  least  doubtful 
whether  you  received  or  rejected  it.    I  have  heard 


^TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  113 

of  your  arguing  for  the  doctrine  of  election,  and 
of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints;  and  I  have 
heard  of  your  saying  that,  if  those  doctrines  are 
true,  they  are  at  least  among  the  mysteries  that 
had  better  be  let  alone.  I  have  heard  of  your 
talking  in  favour  of  the  theology  of  one  school, 
and  then  in  favour  of  the  theology  of  an  opposite 
school ;  and  what  you  said  in  the  two  cases  formed 
a  flat  contradiction.  If  I  were  to  express  an  hon- 
est opinion  in  regard  to  the  actual  state  of  your 
mind,  it  would  be,  that  it  would  be  no  easy  matter 
for  you  to  tell  what  you  do  believe — your  mind  is 
not  accustomed  to  be  stationary ;  you  are  of  the 
number  who  never  attain,  at  least  never  hold  fast, 
to  any  thing  fixed  and  definite. 

I  fear  your  religious  experience  is  no  better  in 
this  respect  than  your  religious  faith  ;  for  it  seems 
to  me  little  else  than  an  alternation  between  for- 
malism and  fanaticism.  I  remember  the  time 
(and  it  is  not  many  years  since),  when  you  turned 
your  back  on  the  public  religious  services  you 
were  accustomed  to  attend,  for  the  sake  of  follow- 
ing one  of  the  maddest  fanatics  that  have  cursed 
the  Church.  You  seemed  suddenly  to  awake  out 
of  a  deep  sleep,  and  pass  into  a  state  of  religious 
delirium.  Every  thing  in  the  ordinary  observance 
of  divine  institutions  seemed  to  you  stale  and  in- 
sipid. You  marvelled  that  the  Church  with  which 
you  were  connected  could  show  so  little  spiritual 
10* 


114  MONITORY  LETTERS 

life.  You  had  no  diflBeulty  in  finding  your  way 
to  an  irregular  and  boisterous  prayer-meeting, 
even  before  the  dawn  of  day.  You  even  said  that 
you  believed  the  millennium  was  opening ;  and 
you  seemed  determined  to  join  in  the  first  song  by 
which  it  should  be  ushered  in.  This,  to  my  cer- 
tain knowledge,  is  a  faithful  description  of  your 
experience  less  than  ten  years  ago.  But  how  has 
it  been  almost  ever  since  ?  how  is  it  at  this  hour  ? 
The  weekly  prayer-meetings  are  regularly  kept 
up  in  your  Church ;  but  if  you  have  any  know- 
ledge of  the  fact,  it  must  be  from  report,  and  not 
from  observation.  The  cause  of  Christ  is  just  as 
important  as  ever  ;  but  if  you  manifest  any  inter- 
est in  it,  I  have  yet  to  learn  in  what  way.  I  never 
hear  you  voluntarily  allude  to  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, and  your  most  intimate  friends  assure  me 
that  my  experience,  in  this  respect,  does  not  dif- 
fer from  theirs.  In  short,  there  is  nothing  visible 
in  your  conduct  to  distinguish  you  from  any  mere 
moral  man  of  the  world.  Observe,  I  do  not  say 
that  you  are  nothing  more  than  this.  I  only  say 
that  this  is  all  which  at  present  you  make  mani- 
fest. If  another  tempest  of  fanaticism  should 
sweep  over  the  community,  I  should  expect  with 
great  confidence,  that  your  voice  would  be  heard 
in  its  terrific  swell ;  and  even  if  a  genuine  revival 
of  religion  should  come,  I  should  not  be  surprised 
to  hear  you  finding  fault  with  the  tardiness  of  the 
movements  designed  to  sustain  and  advance  it. 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  115 

There  is  yet  another  point  at  which  your  vacil- 
lating spirit  has  manifested  itself ;  I  mean  in  the 
estimate  which  you  have  formed  of  different 
preachers.  If  all  your  testimony  were  to  be  ad- 
mitted, I  could  prove  that  the  same  man  was,  in 
the  course  of  the  same  year,  the  most  sound  and 
instructive,  and  the  most  frigid  and  uninteresting, 
preacher  you  ever  heard.  Indeed,  I  know  of  one 
instance  in  which  you  pronounced  a  directly  op- 
posite judgment,  upon  a  respectable  clergyman's 
public  performances,  within  three  weeks.  I  sup- 
pose it  is  chiefly  in  consequence  of  this  habit  of 
mind,  that  you  have  been  a  member  of  some  four 
or  five  different  churches.  When  I  have  heard 
your  favourable  opinion  quoted  in  respect  to  some 
minister,  I  have  heard  it  significantly  asked  how 
long  you  had  known  him. 

You  cannot  but  see  that  this  fickle  spirit,  tak- 
ing, as  I  fear  it  does  in  your  case,  the  form  of  a 
habit,  is  fraught  with  most  injurious  consequences 
to  you,  in  many  respects.  It  certainly  renders 
exceedingly  dubious  your  claim  to  Christian  char- 
acter ;  for,  besides  implying  positive  disobedience 
to  the  divine  commands,  it  leaves  you,  during  a 
large  part  of  the  time,  in  a  state  of  great  spir- 
itual insensibility ;  and  even  when  you  awake, 
your  religious  exercises,  it  is  to  be  feared,  are  but 
very  poorly  conformed  to  the  scriptural  standard 
of  Christian  experience.     A  state  of  uncertainty 


116  MONITORY   LETTERS 

in  regard  to  divine  truth,  is,  or  ought  always  to 
be,  a  state  of  perplexity  ;  for  no  one  has  a  right 
to  be  at  ease,  when  he  is  in  doubt  as  to  what  the 
word  of  God  teaches.  Your  example  is  one  from 
which  no  good  can  possibly  be  hoped ;  for,  as  it 
points  different  ways  at  different  times,  it  could 
be  set  down  as  nothing  better  than  a  contradic- 
tion. You  cut  yourself  off  from  many  opportu- 
nities of  doing  good  which  you  might  otherwise 
enjoy  ;  you  are  prevented  access  to  many  a  field 
of  benevolent  effort  to  which  you  would  otherwise 
be  welcome  ;  you  forfeit  the  good  opinion  of  both 
the  Church  and  the  world  ;  and  even  they  who 
give  you  the  most  credit  for  sincerity,  are  not  wil- 
ling to  trust  you. 

There  is  one  circumstance,  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged, that  forms  some  apology  for  you,  while 
yet  I  fear  it  is  not  very  auspicious  of  a  reforma- 
tion. It  is  that  your  fickleness  is  not  confined  to 
religion^  but  extends,  in  a  degree  at  least,  to 
other  things  ;  so  that  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  you 
were  constituted  with  a  full  share  of  this  infirmity. 
But  even  this  need  not,  and  ought  not  to  discour- 
age you.  If  we  find  a  defect  in  our  moral  con- 
stitution, instead  of  taking  for  granted  that  it 
admits  of  no  remedy,  and  acting  accordingly,  we 
are  to  set  ourselves  vigorously  to  work  to  find  out 
and  apply  a  remedy  ;  nor  are  we  to  rest  until  the 
evil  is  thoroughly  corrected.     What  you  have  to 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  117 

do,  is  to  form  definite  views  of  truth  and  duty ; 
to  become  satisfied,  on  mature  and  devout  inquiry, 
as  to  what  you  are  required  to  believe,  and  what 
you  are  required  to  do  ;  and  then  you  are  to  ask 
grace  of  God  to  make  you  as  firm  as  the  hills  to 
your  honest  convictions.  Resolve  that  you  will 
hold  fast  the  faithful  word,  and  always  keep  on 
the  line  of  duty,  without  even  inquiring  what  sac- 
rifices, in  the  one  case  or  the  other,  may  be  in- 
volved. 


118  MONITORY   LETTERS 


LETTER   XVII. 

TO    ONE    OF   AN   EXCLUSIVE    AND    BIGOTED    SPIRIT. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  adverse  to  the  spiritual 
prosperity,  either  of  individuals  or  of  the  Church  at 
large,  than  the  want  of  a  due  appreciation  of  di- 
vine truth.  And  whenever  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints  is  assailed,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  contend  for  it,  and  to  contend  earnestly 
and  manfully.  There  may  be  those  who  will  call 
this  bigotry  and  intolerance ;  but  we  must  main- 
tain the  truth  notwithstanding.  This  is  the  grand 
deposite  which  Christ  has  lodged  with  his  Church ; 
and  if  it  be  sacrificed — no  matter  from  what  con- 
sideration— there  is  a  treasonable  part  acted  some- 
where towards  Zion's  King. 

Nor  will  you  understand  me  as  objecting  to  the 
division  of  the  Church  into  sects,  or  as  pleading 
for  a  union  of  all  into  a  common  body,  or  as  in- 
timating that  the  difference  between  them  is  of 
little  or  no  moment.  I  take  no  such  ground  as 
this.  You  are  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian  church, 
I  doubt  not,  from  conviction  ;  and  I  advise  you  to 
hold  fast  to  its  doctrines  and  usages,  and  stand 


TO    CIIURCn    MEMBERS.  119 

ready  to  vindicate  them,  when  you  think  that  they 
are  unreasonably  assailed.  In  short,  I  would 
have  you  not  only  an  honest,  but  earnest  and  con- 
sistent member  of  the  communion  to  which  you 
belong. 

But  pardon  me  for  saying  that  I  think  I  have 
observed  in  you  some  tendencies  to  something  be- 
yond true  and  sound  Presbyterianism.  I  have 
noticed  a  disposition  in  you  to  arrogate  to  your 
own  denomination,  more  at  least  than  is  modest, 
and  to  speak  of  other  denominations  in  a  tone  of 
ungracious  disparagement.  It  has  seemed  to  me, 
sometimes,  as  if  you  have  actually  rejoiced  when 
a  false  step  has  been  made  by  some  other  sect,  as 
if  what  was  loss  to  them  w^as  gain  to  you.  You 
seem  to  look  upon  them  with  undue  distrust ;  and 
I  remember  once  to  have  heard  you  speak  of 
something  praiseworthy  that  had  been  accom- 
plished by  a  denomination  which  you  yourself  do 
not  doubt  is,  in  the  main,  evangelical,  as  good 
coming  out  of  Nazareth.  You  gather  yourself 
up  into  too  small  a  space.  Your  Christian  sympa- 
thies are  not  sufficiently  diffusive  to  answer  to  the 
comprehensive  and  magnanimous  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity. I  wish  to  have  you  a  good  Presbyte- 
rian ;  but  I  wish  to  have  you  also,  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  phrase,  a  truly  catholic  Christian. 

It  is  to  be  expected — and  is  certainly  proper — 
that  your  religious  associations  should  be  prima- 


120  MONITORY   LETTERS 

rily  and  chiefly  with  the  members  of  your  own 
communion ;  and  more  than  that — it  seems  now 
to  be  generally  admitted  that  each  sect  labours 
for  the  common  cause  more  efficiently  in  an  indi- 
vidual than  in  an  associate  capacity ;  that  is,  that 
there  is  less  chance  for  interference,  and  better 
opportunity  for  efficient  co-operation,  where  the 
members  of  each  denomination  work  together, 
than  where  there  is  an  attempt  to  merge  all  in  a 
community  of  feeling  and  effort.  But  though  it 
be  admitted  that  this  is  the  right  doctrine  on  this 
subject,  it  still  remains  true  that  there  is  among 
all  the  different  evangelical  denominations,  abun- 
dant scope  for  the  exercise  of  an  enlarged  Chris- 
tian charity.  This  virtue  may  be  considered  as 
taking  a  negative  form,  when  it  operates  to  pre- 
vent a  spirit  of  misrepresentation  or  detraction, 
and  all  attempts,  direct  and  indirect,  to  lessen  the 
prosperity  or  impair  the  influence  of  other  de- 
nominations. But  we  must  not  be  satisfied  with 
merely  letting  them  alone ;  we  must  recognize 
them,  so  far  as  they  hold  the  faith,  and  manifest 
the  spirit,  of  the  Gospel,  as  disciples  of  a  com- 
mon Master,  and  heirs  of  a  common  salvation, 
with  ourselves.  We  must  be  ready,  as  occasion 
or  opportunity  occurs,  to  extend  to  them  the  va- 
rious offices  of  Christian  kindness  and  good  will; 
letting  them  see  that  we  consider  the  great  points 
which  we  hold  in  common,  as   Christians,  as  far 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  121 

more  important  than  those  in  which  we  differ,  as 
Christian  sects.  And  there  is  much  common 
ground  on  which  they  and  we  may  meet  for  the 
promotion  of  the  common  cause  of  truth  and 
righteousness  ;  and  it  is  fitting  that  this  co-opera- 
tion should  be  just  as  extensive,  as  may  consist 
with  mutual  good  will,  and  the  highest  efficiency 
of  all  concerned.  So  far  as  Christians  are  of  one 
mind,  it  is  vastly  important  that  they  should  walk 
together ;  but  where  their  views  are  materially 
different,  even  though  the  difference  be  not  fun- 
damental, it  is  better  that  they  should  not  at- 
tempt to  force  anything  like  external  union.  But 
they  may  show  that  they  are  governed  by  the  law 
of  kindness,  even  in  agreeing  to  differ.  They  may 
rejoice  in  each  other's  joy,  and,  in  a  sense,  bear 
each  other's  burdens,  and  be  fellow-helpers  unto 
the  kingdom  of  God,  while  yet  they  recognize 
different  denominational  standards,  and  regard 
each  other,  of  course,  as  holding  the  truth  in  con- 
siderable imperfection. 

As  an  antidote  to  this  narrow,  and,  in  the  worst 
sense,  sectarian  spirit,  let  me  remind  you  that  it 
is  utterly  at  war  with  the  genius  of  the  Gospel, 
which  reveals  the  mercy  of  God  towards  his  er- 
rino^  creatures,  in  the  universal  offer  of  a  free 
salvation.  The  example  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
as  well  as  the  spirit  of  Paul  and  the  Apostles, 
comes  to  us  with  the  force  of  a  command,  incul- 
11 


122  MONITORY   LETTERS 

eating   the   duty  of    an  expansive  good-will   to- 
wards all  who  love  the  truth,  and  walk  according 
to  its  dictates.     If   you  stand  aloof   from  your 
brethren,  because  they  may  not  yet  have  attained 
to  the  same  things  with  yourself,  or  because,  from 
education  or  other  circumstances,  they  are  thrown 
within  the  pale  of  a  different  communion  from 
you,  you  certainly  violate  the  charity  of  the  Gos- 
pel— you  do  them  great  injustice,  in  not  extend- 
ing to  them  your  Christian  sympathy  and  affec- 
tion, and  you  close  against  yourself  one  important 
source  of  religious  improvement  and  enjoyment. 
But  there  is  yet  another  consideration,  which 
ought  to  put  you  on  your  guard  against  the  in- 
dulgence of  this  spirit — it  is  the  bad  influence 
which  you  hereby  exert  upon  the  world.     Where 
different  denominations,  professedly  holding  the 
same  head,  are  seen  to  regard  each  other  with 
mutual  jealousy  and  dislike,  ready  to  blaze  abroad 
each  other's  imperfections  and  errors,  instead  of 
being  disposed  to  hide  them  from  the  public  eye, 
and  weep  over  them  in  secret  places,  you  cannot 
fully  estimate  the  injury  which  is  hereby  done  to 
those  who  are  willing  to  find  an  apology  in  any- 
thing for  the  neglect  of  their  own  salvation.   Even 
when  we  enter  the  lists  of  controversy,  at  the 
manifest  call  of  Providence,  and  in  defence  of 
important  truth,  such  is  the  weakness  of  our  na- 
ture, that  there  is  always  danger  that  our  zeal 


TO  cnuRcn  members.  123 

for  truth  may  degenerate  into  party  spirit,  and 
that  the  worki  will  point  to  us  as  poor  examples 
of  that  charity  which  forms  one  of  the  crowning 
attributes  of  Christian  character.  I  say,  again, 
I  would  have  you  earnest,  even  valiant,  for  the 
truth  ;  but  I  would  caution  you  against  an  undue 
tenacity  about  matters  of  small  moment ;  and  I 
would  have  you  remember,  even  where  you  con- 
sider the  error  a  serious  one,  that  you  are  still  to 
treat  the  errorist  as  a  man,  and  let  kindness  have 
its  perfect  work  in  endeavouring  to  win  him  to  the 
truth. 


124  MONITORY   LETTERS 


LETTER  XVIII. 

TO    ONE    WHO    IS   NEGLECTrUL.   OF   THE    COMMON    COURTESIES    OF 
LIFE. 

The  subject  on  which  I  am  about  to  address 
you,  does  not,  I  acknowledge,  necessarily  involve 
any  moral  delinquency ;  and  yet  it  has  an  impor- 
tant bearing  upon  your  Christian  character  and 
usefulness.  You  must  bear  with  me,  when  I 
tell  you,  that  your  deficiency  here  is  so  marked 
that  it  escapes  the  observation  of  nobody.  Even 
those  who  are  themselves  far  from  what  could  be 
desired  in  this  respect,  not  only  take  refuge  be- 
hind your  example,  but  acknowledge  that  your  ex- 
ample would  justify  much  more  than  they  should 
be  willing  to  practise. 

Do  not  think,  however,  that  I  have  any  wish  to 
see  you  turned  into  a  dandy,  or  becoming  a  slave 
to  etiquette,  or  trying  to  work  yourself  into  con- 
formity to  all  the  burdensome  and  unmeaning  re- 
quirements of  modern  society.  You  may  be  all 
that  I  wish,  without  ever  being  trained  at  a  dan- 
cing-school, or  brought  in  contact  with  what  is 
technically  called  the  world  of  fashion.  What  I 
have  to  exhort  you  to,  is  quite  as  much  a  negative 


TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  125 

as  a  positive  quality ;  I  mean  it  consists  in  avoid- 
ing the  wrong,  as  truly  as  in  practising  the  right. 
You  are  accustomed,  for  instance,  to  indulge  your- 
self, even  in  refined  society,  in  lounging  and  awk- 
ward postures,  as  if  you  had  forgotten  that  you 
were  not  reposing  in  absolute  solitude.  You  ap- 
proach two  persons  who  are  engaged  in  conver- 
sation, and  you  thrust  in  a  remark  which  is  in  no 
wise  called  for,  with  a  view  to  give  the  conver- 
sation a  different  turn,  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  to 
direct  attention  to  yourself.  You  answer  a  re- 
spectful question,  that  is  asked  you,  in  a  rude  and 
indecent  manner,  as  if  the  question  itself  had 
taken  the  form  of  an  insult.  You  even  use  the 
weed  in  a  lady's  parlour,  and  after  you  are  gone, 
the  carpet  bears  witness  that  you  had  gone  neither 
to  the  window  nor  to  the  door  while  the  disgust- 
ing process  was  going  on.  Some  person  asks 
your  influence  in  his  behalf  when  you  are  in  a 
hurry,  and,  instead  of  decently  excusing  your- 
self, for  want  of  time,  you  make  some  offensive 
and  severe  remark  that  leaves  a  sting  behind, 
which  is,  perhaps,  never  extracted.  In  short, 
you  act  out,  continually,  a  rough  and  uncultivated 
nature.  You  take  counsel  of  nothing  beyond  the 
feelino:  or  the  convenience  of  the  moment.  No- 
body  doubts  that  you  have  mind  enough,  and, 
perhaps,  heart  enough  ;  but  in  manners  you  are 
sadly,  culpably  deficient. 
11* 


126  MONITORY  letters' 

Now  it  cannot  be  disguised  that  this  neglect 
of  common  civilities  has  become  so  much  a  mat- 
ter of  habit  with  you,  that  there  is  little  pros- 
pect of  its  yielding  to  any  other  than  a  course 
of  vigorous  and  continued  effort.  If  you  imagine 
that  the  evil  will  gradually  correct  itself,  without 
any  particular  exertion  on  your  part,  you  greatly 
mistake  ;  it  will  only  become  more  inveterate  and 
more  hopeless.  You  must  feel  that  it  is  a  matter 
of  real  moment,  and  you  must  bring  a  strong  re- 
solution to  bear  upon,  and  must  persevere  in,  your 
eflforts  till  your  friends,  who  deal  with  you  most 
honestly,  shall  tell  you  that  nothing  of  it  re- 
mains. What  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  good 
manners,  is  truly  benevolent  feelings — a  disposi- 
tion to  promote  the  happiness  of  those  around 
you ;  and  if  you  possess  this  disposition,  and  act 
habitually  under  its  influence,  what  you  have  to 
do  beside,  in  order  to  gain  the  object,  is  compara- 
tively little.  If  you  will  bear  in  mind  the  golden 
rule  of  doing  to  others  as  you  would  that  they 
should  do  to  you,  it  will  help  you  greatly  in  this 
matter ;  for  it  is  impossible  that  any  one  should 
desire  to  have  the  ordinary  courtesies  of  life  dis- 
pensed with,  in  the  treatment  which  he  receives 
from  others.  Carry  out  this  principle  into  all 
the  details  of  social  life — let  it  influence  you  in 
all  that  you  do  and  all  that  you  say — and  you 
will  be  surprised  to  find  what  a  change  this,  of 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  127 

itself,  will  have  wrought  in  your  social  character. 
It  will  cause  you  not  only  to  avoid  everything 
positively  offensive,  but  to  cultivate  whatever  is 
lovely  and  of  good  report.  You  must  accustom 
yourself  to  pay  due  attention  to  little  things.  It 
is  of  these  that  life  is,  in  a  great  degree,  made 
up  ;  and  if  you  adopt  the  principle,  in  your  so- 
cial intercourse,  of  attending  to  the  greater  mat- 
ters, and  leaving  the  lesser  ones  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  you  will  find  that  everything  will  go 
wrong  ;  you  will  make  enemies  instead  of  friends, 
and  bring  upon  yourself  reproach  instead  of  se- 
curing favour.  It  is  wonderful  how  much  good 
or  evil  you  may  do  for  yourself,  or  for  others,  by 
a  single  word — even  the  manner  in  which  you 
utter  an  expression  may  be  the  means  of  gaining 
or  losing  a  friend. 

Let  me  say  that  this  is  a  matter  that  has  far 
more  to  do  with  your  usefulness  than  you  are 
aware  of.  There  is  a  large  portion  of  society 
from  which  a  habit  of  vulgarity  and  coarseness 
will  do  much  to  exclude  you;  and  I  am  con- 
strained to  tell  you,  that  I  consider  it  as  owing 
to  this  that  your  usefulness  hitherto  has  been 
so  circumscribed.  There  are,  indeed,  some  minds 
of  such  extraordinary  capacity,  that  they  can 
overleap  this  barrier,  and  make  themselves  felt  in 
spite  of  even  the  most  offensive  external  demon- 
strations ;  but  you  may  rest  assured  that  even 


128  MONITORY  LETTERS 

they  do  not  accomplish  all  the  good  which  they 
might,  if  they  cultivated  a  bland  and  unexcep- 
tionable manner.  Even  those  who  admire  them 
most,  and  over  whom  they  exert  the  most  con- 
trolling influence,  are  often  heard  to  say  that  it  is 
a  pity  that,  so  far  as  their  manners  are  con- 
cerned, they  had  not  been  cast  in  a  different 
mould. 

I  wish  to  urge  this  subject  upon  you  not  merely 
as  a  matter  of  social  propriety,  but  chiefly  as  a 
matter  of  Christian  duty.  You  are  bound,  as  a 
disciple  of  Christ,  to  accomplish  all  the  good  you 
can ;  and  in  order  to  this,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary, not  only  that  you  should  cultivate  good  and 
generous  dispositions,  but  that  the  various  little 
proprieties  of  life  should  be  duly  attended  to. 
Has  it  never  occurred  to  you,  moreover,  that,  in 
just  so  far  as  you  are  lacking  in  this  respect,  you 
fail  to  carry  out  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  for 
it  is  not  more  certain  that  Christianity  reveals 
the  doctrine  of  salvation,  or  inculcates  a  perfect 
morality,  than  that  it  teaches  indirectly  a  system 
of  the  highest  politeness ;  for  though  it  gives  no 
formal  code  of  rules  on  this  subject,  it  enjoins 
and  creates  principles  of  action  that  legitimately 
operate  to  produce  such  a  result.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  for  the  highest  degree  of  gen- 
uine refinement,  we  are  indebted  to  the  same 
fountain  of  blessing  from  which  we  derive  our  re- 
ligious consolations  and  our  immortal  hopes. 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  129 

Since  I  began  to  write  this  letter,  I  have  thought 
of  two  individuals,  both  eminent  clergymen,  one 
among  the  living,  and  one  among  the  dead, 
as  among  the  most  striking  examples  I  have  known 
— the  one  of  the  offensive  quality,  which  I  wish 
you  to  lay  aside  ;  the  other  of  the  excellent  qual- 
ity, which  I  wish  you  to  possess.  The  former  is 
acknowledged  on  all  hands  to  possess  an  intellect 
of  a  very  high  order ;  he  has  a  much  more  than 
ordinary  control  of  other  minds,  and  I  am  not 
aware  that  any  body  questions  the  genuineness — 
I  may  say  the  elevation — of  his  Christian  charac- 
ter. But  there  is  nothing  winning  or  agreeable 
in  his  exterior.  He  shows  a  perfect  contempt  for 
all  the  usages  of  refined  society.  You  cannot 
place  him  in  any  circumstances  that  prove  embar- 
rassing to  him ;  for  he  cares  so  little  for  social 
forms,  that  it  costs  him  not  the  least  sacrifice  to 
go  directly  in  the  face  of  them.  You  may  make 
a  request  of  him,  with  which  it  would  cost  him 
little  or  no  pains  to  comply,  and  he  brings  out  a 
hard  and  ungracious  refusal.  Even  when  he 
means  to  say  a  kind  thing,  or  perform  a  benevo- 
lent action,  his  manner  is  so  repulsive  as  to  make 
you  almost  wish  that  he  had  not  spoken  or  acted. 
He  sometimes  shows  himself  a  giant  in  the  pulpit, 
but  every  body  says  that  he  is  a  boor  out  of  it. 
But  it  is  delightful  to  turivto  the  other  example, 
though  it  makes  me  sad  to  think  that  it  is  among 


130  MONITORY   LETTERS 

the  bright  examples  that  have  passed  away,  except 
as  memory  and  gratitude  have  embalmed  them. 
The  venerable  man  to  whom  I  now  refer,  had  the 
advantage  of  the  most  amiable  natural  disposi- 
tions, and  of  the  most  delicate  perceptions  of  the 
fitting  and  beautiful  in  human  conduct.  He  had 
cultivated  this  part  of  his  nature  with  the  utmost 
care.  It  was  manifest  to  all  who  saw  him,  that 
all  his  social  conduct  was  shaped  by  rule  ;  instead 
of  refusing  anything  which  another  had  a  right 
to  require,  his  benevolence  would  always  allow 
more  than  justice  could  demand.  In  whatever 
situation  he  was  placed,  you  always  felt  that  his 
bearing  was  at  once  manly  and  dignified,  gentle 
and  urbane.  No  man  was  more  considerate  than 
he  of  the  feelings  of  others ;  and  there  was  no- 
thing but  duty  that  he  would  not  sacrifice  to  avoid 
wounding  them.  He  did  nothing  that  could  rea- 
sonably offend ;  he  neglected  nothing  that  could 
properly  contribute  to  the  enjoyment  of  those 
around  him.  ^More  than  one  generation  must 
pass  away,  before  he  will  be  forgotten  as  a  model 
of  a  Christian  gentleman.  I  think  I  hear  you 
ask.  Who  else  could  this  be  than  Dr.  Miller  ?* 

*  The  Late  Rev.  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D.  of  Princeton,  author  of 
"Letters  on  Clerical  Manners  and  Habits,"  published  by  the  Board 
of  Publication. — Editor. 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  181 


LETTER    XIX. 

TO    ONE    WHO    IS     LACKING     IX   REVERENCE    FOR     THE    TRUTH   A3   A 
MORAL   VIRTUE. 

As  you  may  possibly  infer  from  the  subject  of 
my  letter,  that  I  suppose  you  capable  of  deliber- 
ately and  intentionally  violating  the  truth,  I  wish 
to  begin  what  I  have  to  say  by  utterly  disavow- 
ing such  an  idea.  I  doubt  not  that  the  obliga- 
tion of  every  one  to  speak  the  truth,  makes 
part  of  your  creed  as  truly  as  it  does  of  mine. 
And  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  you  do  not  mean  to 
allow  yourself  in  what  you  consider  an  infringement 
of  this  great  law  of  God  and  man  that  binds  society 
together.  But  I  am  obliged  to  add  that  I  am 
equally  convinced  that  there  are  at  least  two 
points,  in  relation  to  this  general  subject,  at  which 
you  are  extremely  vulnerable.  I  propqse  to  di- 
rect your  attention  a  little,  in  all  frankness,  to 
each  of  them. 

The  first  is  an  unfortunate  habit  you  have  ac- 
quired of  making  exaggerated  statements.  You 
have  a  lively  imagination,  and  to  embellish  a 
little  never  costs  you  any  trouble  ;  and  besides, 
you  seem  to  consider  the  sober  truth  as  tame  and 


182  MONITORY  LETTERS 

lacking  in  interest ;  you  want  something  more  ex- 
citing— better  fitted  to  arrest  the  attention  and 
stir  up  the  feelings.  If  it  is  something  humorous 
that  you  are  relating,  you  seem  disposed  to  create 
a  louder  laugh  than  you  would  otherwise  secure, 
by  throwing  every  circumstance  into  the  most  lu- 
dicrous light  you  ca,n.  If  it  is  something  of  a 
gloomy  and  appalling  character,  you  task  your 
imagination  for  yet  darker  shades  than  the  fact 
supplies,  in  order  to  work  up  a  picture  that  shall 
tell  most  powerfully  upon  the  sensibilities  of  those 
who  listen  to  you.  If  it  is  a  mere  ordinary  oc- 
currence, you  still  show  your  wish  to  make  it  ex- 
traordinary, by  either  magnifying  it  into  quite 
another  thing,  or  else  connecting  with  it  some- 
thing to  which  it  is  at  best  but  remotely  related. 
I  tell  you  candidly,  that  I  have  heard  you  tell 
stories,  by  which  I  acknowledge  I  could  not  help 
being  amused,  but  which  were  so  entirely  over- 
coloured,  that  I  could  scarcely  recognize  the  facts 
of  which  they  purported  to  be  a  faithful  narrative. 
Once  in  particular,  I  remember  your  figuring  in 
this  way  in  the  presence  of  a  large  company; 
and  though  you  professed  to  be  telling  the  truth, 
yet  your  imagination  so  perfectly  led  you  captive, 
that  I  could  not  but  think  that  there  was  about 
as  much  difference  between  your  statement  and 
the  veritable  fact,  as  there  was  between  that  of  a 
man's   having  vomited   three   black   crows,  and 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  133 

that  of  his  having  vomited  something  as  black  as  a 
crow. 

The  evils  which  result  from  this  habit,  you 
may  rest  assured,  are  neither  few  nor  small.  The 
fact  that  you  should  have  formed  such  a  habit, 
shows  a  pre-existing  state  of  mind  that  is  far  from 
being  in  harmony  with  the  divine  requirements. 
It  evinces  a  loose  way  of  thinking  and  feeling,  in 
regard  to  the  obligation  to  strict  veracity ;  and 
the  habit  itself  is  really  nothing  else  than  a  habit 
of  voluntary  misrepresentation.  You  may  take 
the  comfort  of  thinking  that  you  mean  no  harm, 
and  that  those  who  listen  to  you  will  not  be  likely 
to  be  misled,  as  they  will  make  due  allowance  for 
your  passion  for  telling  a  good  story ;  but  even 
if  this  be  so,  it  does  not  prevent  your  doing  a  great 
injury  to  yourself.  If  you  accustom  yourself  to 
relate  apocryphal  stories  as  verities,  merely  for 
amusement,  or  to  exaggerate  the  truth  till  it  loses 
its  character  as  truth,  you  need  not  marvel,  if 
that  which  begins  in  the  want  of  due  reverence 
for  the  truth,  should  issue  in  an  utter  disregard 
to  it ;  and  if,  from  this  unfortunate  training  which 
you  are  giving  yourself,  you  should,  by  and  by, 
find  yourself  capable  of  serving  a  purpose  by  de- 
liberate and  downright  falsehood. 

Let  me  say,  too,  that  this  habit  to  which  I  re- 
fer is  altogether  unprofitable.  It  does  not  secure 
the  end  at  which  it  aims.  Your  tendency  to  eX' 
12 


134  MONITORY   LETTERS 

aggeration  soon  becomes  known,  and  your  state- 
ments are  all  received  with  due  allowance  ;  and 
besides,  where  you  have  occasion  to  relate  a 
really  remarkable  thing,  you  do  it  at  a  great  dis- 
advantage, as  your  whole  vocabulary  of  superla- 
tives is  exhausted  upon  ordinary  matters.  So  far 
as  your  example  goes,  I  need  not  say  that  it  is  evil. 
The  circumstance  of  your  being  a  professor  of  re- 
ligion will  give  it  more  authority  in  the  view  of 
some,  while  it  will  lead  others  to  make  religion 
itself  the  object  of  reproach. 

I  would  advise  you,  then,  as  you  value  either 
your  Christian  character  or  Christian  influence,  to 
take  heed  that  your  representations  on  all  sub- 
jects are  in  strict  conformity  to  truth.  Better 
fall  below,  than  go  beyond  the  line,  in  any  state- 
ments you  may  have  occasion  to  make.  The 
habit  which  you  have  formed  will  yield  to  no- 
thing short  of  the  most  vigilant  care  and  persever- 
ing effort.  But  to  be  free  from  it  were  worth 
more  than  all  the  care  and  effort  which  it  would 
cost  you. 

The  other  point  to  which  I  wish  to  refer,  is  the 
uncommon  facility  which  you  have  in  making  pro- 
mises, and  the  equal  facility  with  which  you  seem 
to  forget  or  overlook  them.  Here  again,  I  am 
far  from  charging  you  with  an  intention  to  falsify, 
and  yet  you  cannot  wonder  that  the  frequent  re- 
currence of  such  cases,  causes  your  good  to  be 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  135 

sometimes  evil  spoken  of.  It  has  seemed  to  me 
that  you  act  habitually  from  a  wish  to  make  every- 
body as  happy  as  you  can  for  the  moment ;  and 
hence,  you  readily  make  promises  T\-ithout  think- 
ing that  there  are  any  diflSculties  in  the  way  of 
their  fulfilment ;  and  when  those  difficulties  pre- 
sent themselves,  you  seem  to  feel  absolved  from 
all  obligation  to  keep  your  word.  The  old  maxim, 
that  circumstances  alter  cases,  comes  up  as  a  salvo 
to  your  conscience ;  but  the  person  to  whom  you 
have  made  the  promise  admits  no  such  apology, 
and,  in  his  estimation,  you  stand  charged  with  a 
culpable  delinquency.  If  I  mistake  not,  you  fre- 
quently fail  to  keep  your  engagements  from  mere 
forgetfulness ;  indeed,  it  would  seem,  sometimes, 
that  your  promises  were  made  only  to  be  forgot- 
ten, or  disregarded. 

This  must  be  considered  a  greater  evil  than  the 
one  to  which  I  previously  referred  ;  inasmuch  as 
it  not  only  involves  a  still  worse  form  of  moral 
delinquency,  but  it  implies  a  willingness,  if  not  a 
disposition,  to  trifle  with  the  interests  of  others. 
You  cannot  habitually  or  frequently  fail  to  fulfil 
your  promises,  even  on  the  ground  of  mere  care- 
lessness, but  that  your  name  will  become  a  re- 
proach. They  whom  you  have  needlessly  disap- 
pointed will  withdraw  from  you  their  confidence, 
and  will  manifest  it  by  never  putting  themselves 
in  the  way  of  being  disappointed  by  you  again. 


18G  MONITORY  LETTERS 

And  they  will  relate  the  history  of  their  experi- 
ence to  others,  and  before  you  are  aware  of  it, 
your  reputation  for  integrity,  both  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  world,  will  be  in  the  dust.  I  will  not 
undertake  to  say  to  w^hat  extent  this  sad  result 
has  already  been  realized,  respecting  you ;  but  I 
should  be  unfaithful  to  my  convictions,  not  to  say 
that  you  have  gone  to  a  point  that  has,  at  least, 
greatly  diminished  your  Christian  influence. 

I  knew  an  individual,  many  years  ago,  whose 
history  furnished  one  of  the  saddest  illustrations 
of  trifling  with  one's  own  word,  that  I  have  ever 
happened  to  observe.  He  was  a  man  of  com- 
manding talents,  of  excellent  education,  of  ami- 
able disposition,  and  of  the  most  bland  and  per- 
suasive address.  He  was,  withal,  a  professor  of 
religion,  and  an  office-bearer  in  the  Church.  At 
the  commencement  of  his  career,  no  man  gave 
higher  promise  than  he  of  Christian  respectability 
and  usefulness ;  but,  unhappily,  he  fell  into  the 
habit  of  unscrupulously  making  promises,  which 
he  did  not  and  could  not  fulfil.  His  friends  early 
admonished  him  in  relation  to  it,  but  they  might 
as  well  have  spoken  to  the  wind.  He  would  pro- 
mise, indeed,  to  heed  their  admonitions ;  but  this 
like  most  of  his  other  promises,  seemed  never  to 
be  thought  of  after  it  was  made.  He  became,  at 
length,  extensively  known  for  his  false  dealing; 
and,  by  common  consent,  he  lost  his  standing, 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  137 

both  as  a  citizen  and  a  Christian.  He  had  many 
fine,  generous  feelings ;  but  between  him  and  the 
truth  there  seemed  to  be  no  affinity.  I  never  be- 
lieved that  he  uttered  deliberate  and  studied 
falsehoods ;  and  yet  those  who  suffered  and  writhed 
under  his  broken  promises  held  a  less  indulgent 
opinion  concerning  him.  It  is  far  from  being  a 
new-made  grave  that  he  occupies ;  but  there  are 
many,  whose  associations  with  it  are  still  painful 
and  revolting.  When  I  think  from  what  and  to 
what  he  fell,  I  am  the  more  earnest  in  entreating 
you  to  avoid  not  only  the  reality,  but  even  the 

appearance  of  this  evil. 
12* 


138  MONITORY  LETTERS 


LETTER    XX. 

TO   ONE  WHO  IS  DEFICIENT  IN  PARENTAL   VIGILANCE    AND    CONTROL. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  subject  on  which  reproof 
is  generally  less  welcome  than  the  neglect  of  pa- 
rental duty.  In  most  instances  in  which  I  have 
known  of  its  being  attempted,  it  has  been  met 
with  an  indignant  denial  of  the  alleged  facts,  and 
an  expression  of  perfect  confidence  in  the  good 
intentions  and  exemplary  conduct  of  the  accused 
or  suspected  children.  I  have  often  marvelled  to 
observe  the  blinding  power  of  parental  affection 
over  individuals,  whose  judgment  on  almost  any 
other  subject  I  should  accept  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  and  who  withal,  I  C9uld  not  doubt,  in- 
tended in  all  things  to  keep  a  conscience  void  of 
offence.  These  persons  have  sometimes  had  even 
a  sharp  eye  to  see  the  faults  of  other  children; 
while  yet  those  of  their  own  children,  though  they 
have  been  much  greater,  have  seemed  too  incon- 
siderable to  deserve  reprehension.  I  have  myself, 
from  an  imperious  sense  of  duty,  gone  to  a  father, 
and  a  Christian  father  too,  and  laid  before  him 
proof  of  the  absolute  villainy  of  his  child,  that 
to  any  impartial  person  would  have  been  entirely 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  139 

irresistible,  and  have  been  met  with  the  cool  reply, 
that  he  had  never  known  his  son  guilty  of  any 
such  conduct,  and  he  supected  I  had  been  misin- 
formed. 

Now,  I  am  not  sure  but  that,  in  addressing  you 
on  this  subject,  I  shall  have  to  encounter  the 
same  feeling  as  in  the  case  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred ;  but  even  if  this  should  be  so,  I  can  find 
no  apology  in  it  for  the  neglect  of  a  plain  duty. 
That  your  children  are  sadly  neglected,  and  that 
the  consequence  of  that  neglect  is  abundantly 
manifest  in  the  characters  which  they  are  forming, 
nobody,  I  believe,  who  has  the  opportunity  of  ob- 
serving their  conduct,  pretends  to  doubt.  They 
are  rude  and  boisterous,  as  they  w^alk  the  streets  ; 
insomuch  that  they  attract  the  attention  even  of 
strangers.  I  have  heard  of  their  being  disre- 
spectful to  old  men  ;  and  instead  of  bowing  down 
before  the  hoary  head,  they  have  made  it  an  ob- 
ject of  ridicule  and  contempt.  They  show  little 
respect  for  your  authority,  and  not  unfrequently 
go  directly  in  the  face  of  your  commands.  I  un- 
derstand that  they  are  rarely  present  at  your  fam- 
ily devotions,  and  that  they  have  been  heard  to 
speak  of  the  subject  of  prayer  in  general,  with  a 
revolting  levity.  They  are  sadly  wanting  in  re- 
verence for  all  sacred  things,  and  they  do  not 
scruple  even  to  use  the  name  of  the  Supreme 
Being  to  give  expression  to  their  anger,  or  to  give 


140  MONITORY   LETTERS 

point  to  a  jest.    I  venture  to  saj  that  there  is  not 
an  individual  who  witnesses  their  daily  conduct, 
but  feels  that  it  would  be  a  merciful  deliverance 
to  the  neighbourhood  to  have  them  removed  from  it. 
Now  it  happens  that  these  children  are  as  yet 
only  growing  up,  and  are  bound,  in  the  strictest 
sense,  to  be  subject  to  your   authority.     It   is 
evident  that  your  neglect  to  counsel  and  admonish, 
and  restrain  them,  has  contributed    largely    to 
make  them  what  they  are  ;  and  whatever  difficulty 
you  may  now  experience   in  making  them  what 
they  should  he,  you  must  charge  chiefly  upon 
yourself.     But  let  the  point  of  disregard  to  your 
wishes,  or  rebellion  against  your  authority,  which 
they  have  reached,  be  what  it  may,  you  have  no 
right  to  treat  the  case  as  if  it  were  hopeless.    You 
have  neglected  your  duty  to  them,  and  they  have 
violated  their  obligations  to  you — how  know  you, 
but  that  if  you  begin  to  discharge  faithfully  your 
^parental  duties,  they  may  soon  be  seen  taking  up 
with  alacrity  their  filial  duties  ?  and  thus,  to  your 
great  joy,  you  may  find  them  transformed  into 
docile,  grateful,  and  obedient  children.     But  sup- 
pose they  should  be  deaf  to  your  counsels,  and  re- 
sist your  efforts,  still  you  must  persevere  in  doing 
your  utmost  for  their  reformation.    Some  of  them 
surely  must  still  be  within  your  control — if  they 
are  inclined  to  disregard  the  voice  of  counsel  and 
warning,  you  can  make   them  feel  the  force  of 


TO  CITUIICTI   MEMBEHS.  141 

parental  authority  In  some  more  decided  way ; 
and  you  have  the  utmost  reason  to  hope  that  they 
may  be  effectually  recovered  from  the  incipient 
stages  of  vice.  You  have  indeed  a  much  more 
difficult  duty  to  perform,  to  bring  them  right,  than 
you  would  have  had  to  keep  them  right ;  but  since 
you  have  actually  erred,  you  must  endeavour  to 
correct  your  error  in  the  best  way  you  can.  If 
you  are  faithful  from  this  time,  who  can  tell  but 
that  you  may  be  privileged  to  present  even  these 
youthful  wanderers  before  the  throne,  and  say, 
"'  Here,  Lord,  am  I,  and  the  children  whom  thou 
hast  given  me." 

Need  I  advert  to  the  grounds  of  your  obliga- 
tion to -awake  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  parental 
duty?  Is  it  not  a  duty  that  you  owe  to  your 
children  ?  You  have  been  instrumental  of  intro- 
ducing them  into  a  world  of  temptations  and 
dangers,  and  will  you  do  nothing  to  keep  them 
amidst  so  great  exposure,  to  fortify  them  against 
such  a  mighty  amount  of  evil  ?  It  is  through 
you  that  they  have  been  launched  on  the  ocean 
of  a  boundless  existence,  and  is  it  a  matter  of  no 
concern  to  you  whether  they  are  to  inherit  an  im- 
mortality of  glory  or  an  immortality  of  woe  ?  Can 
you  look  upon  them  as  they  are  contracting  habits 
in  which  lurk  the  seeds  of  endless  misery,  and  re- 
flect that  they  are  bone  of  your  bone,  and  flesh  of 
your  flesh,  and  yet  leave  them  to  press  onward,  un- 


142  MONITORY  LETTERS 

restrained  and  unwarned  in  the  downward  road  ? 
And  are  you  willing  thus  to  turn  them  out  as  the 
scourges  of  society — to  inflict  incalculable  evils  up- 
on their  generation,  and  to  give  just  occasion  to 
multitudes  to  regret  that  these  wayward  and  pro- 
fligate children  had  ever  a  place  among  the  living  ? 
But  the  aspect  in  which  I  wish  you  to  look  at 
this  subject  more  particularly  is  this :  you  are  a 
professed  disciple  of  Christ;  these  very  children 
you  have  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism,  promising 
to  train  them  up  in  the  way  of  his  command- 
ments ;  but  in  thus  neglecting  them,  you  show  an 
utter  disregard  to  the  baptismal  vow,  and  a  cul- 
pable willingness  to  fail  of  doing  good  where  you 
have  the  very  best  opportunity.  The  Church 
witness  the  wanderings  of  your  children,  and  they 
say,  *'  Surely,  if  the  covenant  had  not  been  broken 
in  their  neglected  education,  such  demonstrations 
of  filial  disobedience  and  youthful  irreligion  would 
not  have  been  so  uniformly  or  so  extensively  wit- 
nessed." The  world,  too,  behold  it  all;  they 
compare  the  characters  of  your  children  with 
those  of  the  children  of  many  who  have  never 
made  a  Christian  profession ;  they  compare  the 
training  which  yours  have  had  with  the  training 
which  others  have  had,  over  whom  the  form  of 
baptism  has  never  been  pronounced;  and  they 
sneeringly  ask,  what  advantage  has  the  child  of 
a  believer  over  the  child  of  an  unbeliever ;  nay, 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  143 

of  what  value  is  that  religion  which  permits  its 
professor  to  leave  his  children  to  their  own  way, 
even  though  it  be,  by  his  own  confession,  the 
broad  way  to  ruin  !  It  is  my  earnest  prayer  that 
you  may  be  enabled  to  correct  the  error  into 
which  you  have  fallen,  in  regard  to  parental  dis- 
cipline, and  be  permitted  still  to  see  your  chil- 
dren walking  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God. 


144  MONITORY  LETTERS 


LETTER   XXI. 

TO   A   MOTHER   WHO    NEGLECTS    TO    BRING    HER    CHILDREN   FOB 
BAPTISM. 

Allow  me  to  say,  at  the  outset,  that  I  am  not 
about  to  reason  with  you  as  a  Baptist.  It  would 
be  a  poor  compliment  not  only  to  your  consist- 
ency, but  even  to  your  Christian  integrity,  that  I 
should  do  so ;  for  though  the  Baptists  are  a 
worthy  and  highly  respectable  denomination,  and 
hold  all  the  leading  truths  of  the  Gospel  in  sub- 
stantial purity,  yet  on  the  subject  of  baptism  they 
have  views  which  other  Christian  denominations, 
and  among  them  that  to  which  you  belong,  do  not 
endorse.  The  fact,  therefore,  that  you  are  one 
of  a  denomination  that  not  only  practises  infant 
baptism,  but  in  its  formularies  recognizes  it  as  a 
bounden  duty,  and  especially  the  fact  that  you 
made  no  objection  to  this  feature  in  the  economy 
of  the  Church,  when  you  became  a  member,  and 
that  you  do  not  profess  -that  your  views  have  un- 
dergone any  change  since  that  time — these  facts, 
I  say,  oblige  us  to  look  for  some  other  reason  for 
your  delinquency  on  this  subject,  than  is  found  in 
the  supposition  of  your  either  having  never  held, 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  145 

or  liavlng  abjured  the  doctrine  in  question.  In- 
deed, I  have  been  informed,  upon  good  authority, 
that  it  is  not  the  truth  of  the  doctrine,  but  its 
importance,  concerning  which  you  doubt ;  that 
though  you  do  not  deny  that  the  practice  may 
have  some  foundation  in  Scripture,  yet  you  re- 
gard it  as  one  of  those  lesser  matters  which  may 
very  well  be  left  somewhat  to  one's  inclination 
and  circumstances.  I  feel  assured  that  you  have 
fallen  into  a  grievous  mistake  on  this  subject,  and 
I  cannot  but  hope  that  I  shall  be  successful  in  the 
effort  I  am  about  to  make  to  convince  you  of  it. 

Let  me  ask  you,  then,  in  the  first  place,  whether 
you  are  not  chargeable  with  a  palpable  contradic- 
tion in  admitting  that  the  Bible  really  contains  a 
warrant  for  infant  baptism,  and  yet  refusing  to 
comply  with  the  scriptural  requisition  on  the 
ground  that  little  importance  is  to  be  attached  to 
it.  Is  it  not  presumptuous  to  say  that  anything 
that  God  has  required  of  us,  is  unimportant  ?  Be 
it  so  that  we  cannot  see  the  reasonableness  of  his 
command  any  more  than  Abraham  could,  when 
the  voice  from  Heaven  bade  him  sacrifice  his  son ; 
yet  if  the  point,  that  God  has  actually  spoken,  be 
settled,  we  are  as  truly* bound  to  obey  as  Abra- 
ham was — as  truly  as  if  there  was  nothing  mys- 
terious in  the  requisition.  If  you  say  that  you 
have  not  examined  the  subject  sufiiciently  to  have 

reached  a  very  intelligent  and  fixed  judgment  in 
13 


14G  MONITORY   LETTERS 

respect  to  it,  and  that  it  is  not  much  more  than 
an  hereditary  assent  that  you  render  to  this  doc- 
trine of  your  Church,  then  I  must  tell  you  plainly 
that  it  is  high  time  you  should  know  why  you  be- 
long to  one  denomination  rather  than  another ; 
and  that  it  is  with  an  ill  grace  that  you  take 
refuge  in  voluntary  ignorance  or  uncertainty 
against  the  acknowledged  claims  of  your  Chris- 
tian profession. 

But,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  little  reflection  will 
show  you  that  there  is  far  greater  importance  at- 
tached to  this  ordinance  than  you  attribute  to  it, 
and  that  the  course  you  are  pursuing  involves 
deep  injustice  to  your  children,  to  yourself,  and 
to  the  Church. 

The  promise  of  the  covenant  that  God  made 
with  Abraham,  was,  "I  will  be  a  God  to  thee 
and  to  thy  seed."  Our  doctrine  is  that  that 
covenant  was  but  an  earlier  development  of  the 
Christian  covenant ;  and  though  the  rite  of  initia- 
tion into  the  visible  Church  is  changed  under  the 
present  economy,  yet  the  promise  remains  in  all 
its  strength  and  fulness.  God  has  promised,  then, 
to  be  the  God,  in  some  peculiar  sense,  of  the  seed 
of  believers,  bearing  the  seal  of  the  covenant ; 
and  is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  if  they 
die  in  infancy,  they  will  die  to  reign  with  Christ  ? 
I  believe,  indeed,  with  great  confidence,  that  all 
who  die  in  this  period  are  subjects  of  the  regene- 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  147 

rating  influences  of  divine  grace,  and  go  safely 
to  heaven  ;  but  I  cannot  but  think  that  Christian 
parents,  who  dedicate  their  children  to  God,  and 
offer  up  believing  prayers  in  their  behalf,  while 
they  are   incapable  of  praying   for  themselves, 
have  peculiar  reason,  on  this  ground,  to  be  com- 
forted in  their  early  departure.     They  need  have 
no  doubt  that  the  little  lambs,  which  the  great 
Shepherd    leaves   in   their   keeping,    only   long 
enough  to  have  the    baptismal  water  sprinkled 
upon  them,  and  the  prayer  of  faith  offered  over 
them,  are  gathered  into  the  higher  fold  ;  and  that 
thus    they  become  instrumental   of  heightening 
the  joy,  as  well  as  adding  to  the  number,  of  Hea- 
ven's inhabitants.     But  suppose  they  attain  to 
moral  agency,  what  are  the  blessings  which  the 
promise    secures   to  them  ?     Nothing   less,   cer- 
tainly, than  the  enjoyment  of  the  external  means 
of  religion,  including  especially  the  prayers  and 
the  fostering  care  of  the  Church,  with  the  accom- 
panying influences    of   the    Holy   Spirit.     Thus 
God  expressly  promises   to  Jacob,   his  servant, 
and  to  Israel,  whom  he  had  chosen,  "  I  will  pour 
my  Spirit  on  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  on  thine 
offspring  ;    and  they  shall  spring  up   as  among 
the  grass,  and  as  willows  by  the  water-courses." 

But  is  there  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  fact 
that  a  child  has  been  dedicated  to  God  in  bap- 
tism, will  act  directly  and  powerfully  upon  his 


148  MONITORY  LETTERS 

own  feelings  in  favour  of  a  religious  life,  as  he 
advances  towards  maturity  ?  Will  it  be  easy  for 
him  to  divest  himself  of  the  impression  that,  in 
pursuing  a  sinful  course,  even  in  living  in  the 
neglect  of  religion,  he  oifends  against  some  pecu- 
liar obligations  ?  Have  his  parents  solemnly 
dedicated  him  to  God — the  Creator,  Kedeemer, 
and  Sanctifier,  and  covenanted  not  only  for  them- 
selves to  educate  him  in  the  fear  of  God,  but,  so 
far  as  they  could,  for  Idm  also,  that  he  should 
■walk  in  the  way  of  God's  commandments ;  and 
has  this  covenant  been  ratified  by  a  thousand 
prayers  and  other  tokens  of  parental  love  ;  and 
do  you  believe  that  the  recollection  of  all  this 
would  have  no  efi*ect  upon  the  heart  of  the  child, 
so  long  as  the  spirit  of  filial  gratitude  and  sensi- 
bility was  not  entirely  dislodged  from  it?  I 
doubt  not  that  this  reflection  has  come  home  like 
a  death  chill  to  many  a  child  who  has  wandered 
far  away  from  the  path  of  duty  and  of  life,  and 
has  sometimes  been  the  means  of  reclaiming  him 
to  virtuous  habits,  and  even  leading  him  to  true 
repentance  ;  and  I  have  as  little  doubt  that  the 
same  consideration  has  nerved  many  a  young 
heart  to  stand  erect  against  the  solicitations  of 
the  tempter,  which  otherwise  might  have  formed 
a  league  with  him,  the  end  of  which  would  have 
been  death.  I  appeal,  then,  to  the  strength  of 
parental  love,  when  I  ask,  Are  you  willing  to 


TO    CHURCH   MEMBERS.  149 

withhold  from  your  child  that  which,  in  its  direct 
influence  on  his  own  mind,  is  so  well  fitted  to  keep 
him  out  of  the  forbidden  w^iy,  and  form  him  to 
usefulness,  happiness,  and  heaven  ? 

You  tell  me  that  my  doctrine  is  contradicted 
by  your  observation  ;  that  you  do  not  see  that 
baptized  children  grow  up  any  better  than  others  ; 
that  they  are  as  often  found  living  in  the  neglect 
of  religion,  and  even  sinning  with  a  high  hand, 
as  those  in  respect  to  whom  this  rite  has  never 
been  performed.  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  you 
calmly  review  this  judgment,  and  the  facts  upon 
which  it  is  based,  you  will  have  occasion  to  re- 
verse it ;  for  I  do  not  believe  but  that,  in  any 
community  where  infant  baptism  is  administered 
on  scriptural  principles,  you  will  find  a  far  greater 
amount  of  virtue  and  piety  among  those  who  have 
been  the  subjects  of  it,  than  those  who  have  not. 
But  we  do  not  claim  that  baptism  in  itself  is  any 
certain  security  for  a  virtuous  character  :  not 
only  may  the  child,  by  the  voluntary  indulgence 
of  evil  dispositions,  prevent  the  good  eff"ect  it  is 
designed  to  produce,  but  the  parents  also,  by 
their  neglect  of  the  obligations  which  it  involves, 
may  utterly  forfeit  all  promised  blessings,  and 
even  change  it  to  a  solemn  farce.  But  surely 
the  fact  that  an  ordinance  may  be  perverted  from 
its  legitimate  significance  and  tendency,  makes 
nothing  against  the  ordinance  itself ;  and  it  is  a 
13* 


150  MONITORY   LETTERS 

poor  argument  for  neglecting  faithfully  to  do 
your  whole  duty,  that  those  who  perform  only  a 
part,  and  that  in  the  letter,  and  not  the  spirit,  do 
not  receive  the  blessing  promised  to  the  faithful. 

And  if  this  is  a  duty  that  you  owe  to  your 
children,  not  less  is  it  a  duty  that  you  owe  to 
yourself.  If  you  are  a  Christian  mother,  your 
strongest  wish  in  respect  to  your  children,  is  that 
they  may  be  virtuous,  useful,  and  happy  here, 
and  prepared  for  the  blessings  of  an  endless  life 
hereafter.  You  know  that  the  forming  of  their 
character  and  destiny  depends,  under  God,  more 
on  parental  influence — -yes,  I  may  say,  on  a 
mother's  influence,  than  any  other.  If,  then,  you 
desire  to  do  your  duty  towards  them,  how  natural 
is  it  that  you  should  wish  to  fortify  yourself,  as 
far  as  possible,  against  all  temptations  to  neglect 
it ;  to  surround  yourself  with  all  the  auxiliaries 
you  can  command  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  it. 
And  if  anything  can  answer  these  purposes, 
surely  it  must  be  the  reflection  that  you  have 
pledged  yourself,  formally  and  solemnly  in  the 
baptismal  vow,  to  train  them  up  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  What  better  fitted 
than  this  to  quicken  your  sense  of  parental  re- 
sponsibility, and  make  you  earnest  in  your  pray- 
ers, and  firm,  vigilant,  and  untiring  in  your  efibrts 
for  their  sanctification  and  salvation  ? 

And  I  must  add  that,  in  the  course  you  are 


TO   CHURCH    MEMBERS.  151 

pursuing,  you  fail  to  fulfil  the  solemn  covenant 
into  which  you  have  entered  with  the  Church. 
When  you  became  a  member,  you  engaged  to 
walk  with  those  with  whom  you  were  thereby  as- 
sociated, in  the  observance  of  Christ's  ordinances  ; 
but  do  you  not  fail  in  respect  to  one,  according 
to  their,  and  even  your  own,  understanding  of  it  ? 
Is  this  fitted  to  encourage  and  strengthen  the 
hearts  of  your  brethern  and  sisters?  Or  is  it 
not  rather  fitted  to  wound  and  depress  them  ?  Is 
it  not  likely  that  others  wall  be  induced  to  imitate 
your  example  ?  Would  even  you  be  willing,  in 
your  moments  of  reflection,  to  see  the  baptism  of 
infants  discontinued  ?  If  not,  then  avoid,  I  pray 
you,  doing  anything  that  tends  to  such  a  result. 
Let  not  your  lips  utter  one  thing,  and  your  con- 
duct another. 

I  must  not  omit  to  say,  in  concluding  this  let- 
ter, that  I  have  heard  it  intimated  that  your  de- 
linquency in  this  respect  is  probably  attributable, 
in  some  degree,  to  the  fact  that  your  husband  is 
not  a  professor  of  religion,  and  that  he  objects  to 
standing  up  with  you  when  the  ordinance  is  ad- 
ministered. But  he  does  not  object  to  your 
bringing  the  child  yourself ;  and  as  this  is  no- 
thing but  what  thousands  of  mothers  do  continu- 
ally, so  there  is  nothing  in  it  at  which  the  most 
delicate  sense  of  propriety  need  even  to  pause. 
And  can  you — I  will  venture  to  say,  dare  you— 


152  MONITORY   LETTERS 

make  your  obedience  or  neglect  of  a  command 
of  God,  turn  on  such  a  point  as  this  ?  And  what, 
think  you,  will  be  likely  to  be  the  influence  on 
your  husband,  in  the  one  case  or  the  other  ?  He 
knows  that  it  is  involved  in  the  covenant  into 
which  you  have  entered,  that  you  should  dedicate 
your  children  to  God;  and  will  his  views  of  religion 
be  more  elevated  or  depressed,  if  he  sees  you 
faithful  or  recreant  to  your  covenant  vows  ?  Will 
it  give  him  a  high  idea  of  the  strength  of  your 
religious  principles,  that  you  should  turn  your 
back  upon  an  acknowledged  duty,  because  he  is 
too  proud  to  become  associated  in  it,  and  you  are 
too  modest  to  attempt  it  alone  ? 

I  leave  the  subject  with  your  maternal  sensi- 
bilities, and  your  enlightened,  conscientious  con- 
victions. May  your  views  and  conduct  in  relation 
to  it  be  such  as  will  stand  the  test  of  that  hour 
when  the  earthly  tie  that  binds  you  to  your  child- 
ren shall  be  dissolved. 


TO  CHURCH  MEMBERS.  153 


LETTER  XXII. 

TO    A    LADY    WHO    SENDS    HER     DAUGHTER   TO    A    ROMAN    CATHOLIC 
SCHOOL. 

I  TAKE  for  granted  you  need  not  be  told  that 
it  is  a  matter  of  surprise  and  regret  with  many  of 
your  Christian  friends,  that  you  should  have  sent 
your  daughter  to  be  educated  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  Roman  Catholics.  Indeed  I  have  heard 
that  you  have  already  been  spoken  to,  and  even 
expostulated  with,  on  the  subject,  and  that  you 
have  regarded  the  anxiety  which  your  friends  have 
expressed  as  quite  unnecessary,  if  not  impertinent 
and  intrusive.  But  notwithstanding  this,  my  own 
convictions  that  you  are  placing  your  child  in  cir- 
cumstances of  imminent  jeopardy,  are  too  strong 
to  allow  me  to  remain  silent,  even  though  I  had 
more  reason  than  I  have,  to  believe  that  my  mo- 
tives in  addressing  you,  would  not  be  fully  ap- 
preciated. You  will  allow  me  to  speak  plainly 
and  without  restraint ;  and  all  that  I  ask  of  you 
is  that  you  will,  as  a  Christian  mother,  allow  to 
the  few  considerations  that  I  shall  offer,  the  weight 
to  which  an  enlightened  and  impartial  judgment 
shall  pronounce  them  entitled. 


154  MONITORY   LETTERS 

The  only  reason  that  I  have  heard  for  your 
taking  this  step  is,  that  you  believe  that  the  school 
at  which  you  have  placed  your  daughter  furnishes 
better  advantages  for  improvement,  especially  in 
the  more  refined  branches  of  female  education, 
than  any  Protestant  school  within  your  reach. 
Herein,  let  me  say,  I  am  convinced  that  you  are 
in  a  mistake.  You  are  not  shut  up  to  the  neces- 
sity of  sending  to  any  one  Protestant  school ;  but 
you  have  your  choice  of  several,  all  of  which  are 
in  good  repute  ;  and  among  them  I  am  sure  you 
can  find  at  least  one,  whose  teachers  are  fully  as 
accomplished  and  capable  as  those  to  whose  care 
your  daughter  has  been  committed.  I  am  aware 
that  the  Romish  schools  claim  to  be  superior,  in 
respect  to  both  the  accomplishments  of  their 
teachers,  and  the  order  w^ith  which  they  are  con- 
ducted ;  but  as  I  can  see  no  reason  why  this  should 
be  so,  so  I  have  never  had  the  evidence  that  it  is 
so ;  nor  do  I  believe  it. 

But  admitting  that  this  were  actually  the  case — 
that  the  best  schools  in  the  community  in  which 
you  live,  so  far  especially  as  respects  the  more 
graceful  part  of  an  education,  were  under  the  di- 
rection of  Roman  Catholics — still  you  cannot 
deny  that  there  are  several  excellent  Protestant 
schools  around  you — schools  which  are  patronized 
by  parents  w^ho  hold  the  highest  position  in  soci- 
ety, and  are  most  careful  in  respect  to  the  train- 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  lob 

ing  of  tlieir  daiigliters.  You  cannof,  then,  plead 
the  alternative  of  placing  your  daughter  at  a 
Romish  school,  or  of  denying  to  her  the  advan- 
tages of  a  good  education.  You  have  more  than 
one  Protestant  school  almost  at  your  door,  in 
•which  her  mind  and  manners  would  be  duly  cared 
for,  and  she  would  find  herself  associated  with 
young  ladies  of  the  highest  respectability. 

I  am,  however,  prepared  to  go  still  further,  and 
say  that  if  not  only  the  advantages  offered  b}^  a 
Roman  Catholic  school,  were  decidedly  and  greatly 
superior  to  those  of  any  kindred  Protestant  in- 
stitution in  your  neighbourhood,  but  the  Protest- 
ant schools  were  really  of  a  somewhat  inferior 
order,  you  would  still  commit  a  great  error  in 
placing  your  child  under  Catholic  instruction. 
The  error  is  that  you  run  the  hazard  of  a  great 
evil  for  the  sake  of  what  you  must  yourself  ac- 
knowledge to  be  a  lesser  good.  That  is,  for  the 
sake  of  securing  to  your  daughter  the  highest 
mental  or  worldly  accomplishments,  you  suffer 
her  to  be  surrounded  with  influences  which  are 
fitted  to  give  her  an  aversion  to  the  simplicity  of 
the  Gospel,  and  lead  her  to  repose  in  a  system 
whose  theory  is  darkness,  and  whose  practice  is 
intolerance  and  crime. 

But  you  tell  me  that  you  do  not  send  your 
daughter  to  school  to  learn  religion  of  one  kind 
or  another.     Your  sole  object  is  to  cultivate  her 


156  MONITORY   LETTERS 

mind  and  manners;  and  as  for  her  religious  prin- 
ciples, what  you  omit  to  do  yourself,  you  can 
safely  leave  to  the  weekly  influences  of  the  pulpit 
and  the  Sabbath-school.  I  cannot  agree  with 
you  that  the  end  of  female  education  is  likely  to 
be  accomplished,  where  there  is  no  religious  influ- 
ence exerted ;  or  that  a  Christian  mother  has  rea- 
son to  feel  satisfied,  if  her  daughter  never  hears  a 
word  in  school  that  looks  towards  accountableness 
or  immortality,  provided  only  her  intellectual 
faculties  are  skilfully  dealt  with,  or  her  manners 
formed  after  a  graceful  model ;  but  I  maintain 
that  even  this  is  more  than  you  have  a  right 
to  expect.  I  venture  to  say  you  will  find  in 
nearly  every  school  taught  by  Roman  Catholics 
something  that  gives  it  a  distinctive  character. 
Romanism  is  there  as  the  presiding  genius ;  it  is 
there  perhaps  in  so  insidious  a  form  as  scarcely 
to  be  detected  ;  it  is  there,  not  with  its  implements 
of  torture  and  death,  but  looking  as  bright  and 
smiling  and  peaceful  as  an  angel.  The  first  effect 
likely  to  be  produced  on  the  mind  of  your  daugh- 
ter is  a  conviction  that  the  Romish  system  is  not 
understood  by  Protestants,  or  at  least  is  greatly 
misrepresented  by  them  ;  and  soon  she  is  brought 
to  feel  that  the  Catholics  are  a  persecuted  sect — 
the  more  she  knows  of  them,  the  better  she  likes 
them ;  and  at  length  she  reaches  a  point  where 
she  can  receive  without  scruple  the  most  absurd 


TO    CHURCH    MEMBERS.  157 

and  revolting  of  their  dogmas.  I  speak  on  this 
painful  subject  with  confidence,  because  I  have 
facts  innumerable  to  sustain  me  in  what  I  saj.  I 
have  in  my  mind  at  this  moment  a  young  lady, 
(and  she  stands  as  the  representative  of  a  host,) 
■whose  experience  has  been  almost  precisely  what 
I  have  just  detailed.  Her  parents  sent  her  to  a 
Romish  school  from  a  conviction  that  there  was  a 
higher  order  of  culture  there  than  was  elsewhere 
to  be  found.  She  had  a  naturally  impressible 
mind — a  mind  that  was  susceptible  of  a  sort  of 
sombre  enthusiasm,  and  that  easily  took  the  hue 
of  objects  by  which  she  was  surrounded.  For 
more  than  a  year  she  was  separated  from  her  pa- 
rents, and  they  thought  of  nothing  concerning 
her,  but  that  she  was  making  rapid  progress  in 
her  education.  At  length  she  went  home  on  a 
visit ;  and  when  the  Sabbath  morning  came,  and 
the  family  were  about  to  go  to  church,  it  was  ob- 
served that  she  was  making  no  preparation  to  ac- 
company them.  When  her  mother  inquired  the 
reason,  out  came  the  astounding  fact  that  she  was 
a  Catholic.  Both  her  parents  deplored  it  deeply ; 
but  it  was  too  late;  she  had  had  her  Catholic 
training,  and  the  spirit  that  was  in  her  was  not 
to  be  dislodged  even  by  parental  expostulations 
and  tears.  If  she  is  still  living,  I  believe  she  has 
her  home  in  a  nunnery.  She  had  several  younger 
14 


158  MONITORY  LETTERS 

sisters ;  but  none  for  whom  the  parents  did  not 
think  that  a  Protestant  school  was  good  enough. 
But  you  tell  me  that  your  daughter's  teacher 
is  one  of  the  loveliest  creatures  in  the  world ;  that 
she  is,  both  by  nature  and  by  culture,  a  model  of 
everything  in  mind  and  manners  that  you  wish 
your  daughter  to  become ;  that  you  are  sure  that 
your  wish  would  be  a  law  to  her,  and  that  she 
would  never  say  a  word  to  influence  your  child  to 
any  belief  not  in  accordance  with  your  own.  I 
will  not  question  the  correctness  of  your  impression 
in  respect  to  her  character  ;  she  may,  I  doubt  not, 
be  as  amiable  and  attractive  as  you  represent 
her,  and  she  may  never  seem  to  exert  any  influ- 
ence adverse  to  the  religious  system  to  which  your 
daughter  has  been  educated;  but  allow  me  to  say 
that  all  this  does  not  in  my  judgment  lessen  the 
danger.  An  indirect  and  insensible  influence  is 
often  the  most  powerful ;  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  the  surest  way  of  making  a  convert  of 
a  young  lady  to  any  false  system,  would  be  to 
place  her  in  just  such  circumstances  as  I  am  sup- 
posing. Let  her  hear  little  or  nothing  said  con- 
cerning it,  but  let  her  see  it  associated  with  the 
graceful  amenities  of  life,  while  she  constantly 
breathes  an  atmosphere  formed  under  its  influ- 
ence. You  may  rest  assured  that  your  daughter 
must  have  the  power  of  resistance  in  an  uncom- 
mon degree,  if  she  can  withstand  such  an  influence 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  159 

as  this ;  and  even  if  she  should  not  actually  be 
converted  to  Romanism,  the  least  you  can  expect 
is  that  it  will  make  her  tolerant  of  the  difference 
between  Romanists  and  Protestants,  and  will  fill 
her  mind  with  notions  altogether  unfavourable  to 
her  holding  a  fixed  and  consistent  faith  in  the 
great  truths  of  the  Gospel. 

I  might  ask  whether  something  is  not  due  to 
the  relation  you  bear  to  the  Church  of  which  you 
are  a  member;  and  whether,  inasmuch  as  you 
know  that  many  of  them  are  deeply  wounded  by 
your  course  in  this  respect,  it  is  not  your  duty 
even  to  sacrifice  your  own  predilections  rather 
than  continue  an  occasion  of  offence.  But  with- 
out dwelling  upon  this  point,  I  cannot  but  remind 
you  that  what  you  are  doing  places  you  in  at  least 
a  highly  equivocal  attitude,  in  respect  to  the  great 
conflict  that  is  now  going  on,  preparatory  to  the 
Mediator's  universal  reign.  If  anything  is  ren- 
dered certain,  either  by  the  aspects  of  providence, 
or  the  word  of  prophecy,  it  is  that  the  Romish 
church  is  the  great  anti-Christian  power  that  is 
finally  to  be  vanquished ;  though  not  till  after  it 
has  been  still  longer  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the 
saints.  I  cannot  see  but  that  in  the  selection  of  a 
school  for  your  daughter,  you  have,  to  say  the 
least,  placed  yourself  in  a  false  position,  as  a 
Christian,  looking  and  praying  for  the  destruction 
of  Satan's  kingdom,  and  the  universal  prevalence 


160  MONITORY   LETTERS 

of  truth  and  righteousness.  You  profess  to  join 
in  prayers  for  this  blessed  consummation  every 
Sabbath  ;  and  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  sim- 
ilar petitions  often  ascend  from  your  closet ;  but 
I  am  constrained  to  think  that,  if  you  look  at  the 
case  intelligently  and  candidly,  you  will  detect  a 
sad  contradiction  between  what  you  ask  God  to 
do,  and  what  you  yourself  are  doing. 

But  notwithstanding  all  that  I  have  said,  you 
must  not  understand  me  as  wishing  to  foster  a 
spirit  of  hostility  towards  the  Roman  Catholics. 
So  far  from  it,  that  I  would  treat  them,  and  would 
advise  all  to  treat  them,  with  uniform  kindness ; 
and  I  would  be  as  ready  to  acknowledge  whatever 
is  praiseworthy  and  of  good  report  in  their  char- 
acters, as  if  I  were  in  full  sympathy  with  their  re- 
ligious views.  I  would  bear  in  mind,  and  would 
have  others  bear  in  mind,  that  the  system  which 
they  hold  is  that  under  which  they  were  born,  and 
to  which  they  have  been  trained  with  most  scru- 
pulous fidelity ;  and  it  were  unreasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  hereditary  prejudices  which  have  been 
the  growth  of  many  centuries,  should  yield  to  the 
power  of  truth  without  first  holding  a  vigorous 
conflict  with  it.  I  would  oppose  every  measure 
that  tends  to  the  abridgment  of  any  of  their 
just  rights — much  more  anything  that  bears  even 
the  semblance  of  persecution  towards  them.  But 
after  all,  I  would  never  even  seem  to  connive  at 


TO   CHURCH   MEMBERS.  161 

their  errors,  or  do  anything,  either  from  courtesy 
or  convenience,  that  should  lead  them  or  others 
to  suppose  that  I  regarded  their  errors  as  trivial. 
Above  all,  I  would  never  give  them  the  forming 
of  my  children's  minds,  thus  exposing  those  who 
are  most  dear  to  me  to  evils  greater  than  any  hu- 
man mind  can  estimate. 
14* 


THE   END. 


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